
^ " rv>- 



liiiila 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



%$...:- ... ®opgri# %♦ - 

Shelf. M'H.i^7L 
^Dia 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



ri^y 



THE 



WAGE-WORKER'S 



REMEDY 



BY V 

MORGAN E. BOWLING, 

IV 

author of 

4 Southern Prisons, or Josie, the Heroine of Florence," 

"Reason and Ingersollism," and "Three 

Steps in Life." 



"APR30 1B94 



DETROIT: 

John F. Eby & Co., Publishers. 

1894. 



%o*-?7~^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1894, 

BY MORGAN E. DOWLING, 
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



To the Memory 

of 

MARIA JOSEPHINE DOWLIXG, 

My Beloyed Mother, 

from whose lips i first heard the words 

Liberty, Justice, Humanity, 

this volume 
is respectfully dedicated. 



INTRODUCTION. 

11 All wealth is the product of labor." 

The object of this little work is to pro- 
mote the cause of American labor ; to 
present to the American people a general 
view of the situation between labor and 
capital ; to demonstrate that enforced . idle- 
ness and low wages are the leading canses 
of the wage- worker's destitution ; to point 
out the chief sources of all our labor 
troubles, and disclose the means to abolish 
them ; to enumerate the wage-worker's 
wants, and propose legislative measures 
that will afford relief; to indicate that 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

organization and legislation are the only 
safeguards upon which the wage-workers 
can build their hopes, and the only means 
that will enable them to accomplish their 
ends ; to disprove the theory that poverty 
is produced by material progress ; to refute 
the absurd idea that there is a complete 
remedy for poverty, and to suggest the 
means by which poverty may be reduced 
to a minimum, and all the evils that 
environ labor may be abated. 

MORGAN E. DOWLING. 

Detroit, March ist, 1894. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

INTRODUCTION 5 

CHAPTER I. 

THE SITUATION BETWEEN CAPITAL AND 

LABOR 9 

CHAPTER II. 
THE WAGE-WORKER'S WANTS 24 

1. Steady Work. 

2. Shorter Hours. 

3. Fair Wages. 

CHAPTER III. 

LEGISLATION THE WAGE-WORKER'S REM- 
EDY 31 

I. Suspend All Immigration to this Country .. . 36 

II. Make Eight Hours a Legal Day's Work 52 

III. Prohibit Marriage Under the Ag@ of Twenty- 
One Years 63 



CONTENTS. 

IV. Prohibit the Employment of Children Under 
Fifteen Years of Age, in Workshops, Facto- 
ries, and Mines 65 

V. Fix the Minimum Rate of Wages at Two Dol- 
lars per Day for All Laborers, Except Domes- 
tic and Farm Laborers 69 

VI. Reduce the Legal Rate of Interest to Four 

per Cent per Annum 107 

VII. Purchase All Street Railways and Place Them 
Under the Control and Management of the 
Municipal Authorities 113 

VIII. Purchase All Telegraph, Telephone, and 
Railroad Lines, and Place Them Under the 
Control and Management of the National 
Government 116 

IX. Prohibit the Purchase of Lands in This Coun- 
try by Non-Resident Aliens, and Compel All 
Non-Resident Aliens who Now Own Lands, 
to Sell Them Within a Specified Time or 
Forfeit Their Titles 122 



CHAPTER IV. 

THERE IS NO COMPLETE REMEDY FOR 

POVERTY 171 



CHAPTER I. 

THE SITUATION BETWEEN CAPITAL AND 
LABOR. 

" 111 fares the land to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates and men decay." 

From the Atlantic to the Pacific, from 
the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Superior, in 
every town and in every city, on moun- 
tain top and desert plain, in smiling val- 
ley and entangled forest, wherever the hu- 
man voice is heard or the eye penetrates, 
the prevalence, 'utility, power, and pomp 
of wealth are everywhere visible. Princely 
stores, palatial homes, marble cathedrals, 
grand theaters, and stupendous public 



io THE WAGE-WORKERS 

buildings — all indicating the wealth, and 
prosperity of the country — meet our vision 
on every hand. The land is adorned with 
schools and jeweled with churches. The 
vaults of countless banks hoard untold 
millions of treasure. Tens of thousands 
of granaries, elevators, and warehouses are 
filled with the bountiful products of farm 
and field. The supply of copper, iron, 
coal, salt, lumber, and the innumerable 
other products of nature, is inexhaustible. 
The soil is nearly everywhere rich and 
productive. u And now, where once was 
howling wilderness and waste, a million 
fields glow with the golden grain; a mil- 
lion homes crown life with happiness ! - ' 



REMEDY. ii 

And yet, in this prond land of peace and 
plenty, exuberant with a superabundance 
of everything necessary to sustain human 
life ; in the midst of all this wealth, and 
glitter, and oriental splendor, the gloom of 
poverty and misery is everywhere appar- 
ent. Emaciated women and ragged chil- 
dren saunter through the streets begging 
for bread. Pale, haggard-looking men and 
women seek employment in vain, and are 
driven to madness and suicide daily for 
the want of work and the necessaries of 
life. Our almshouses and jails are filled 
with persons constrained by enforced idle- 
ness and extreme poverty to make them 
their abode. Many of those who obtain 



12 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

employment can hardly keep body and 
soul together with the meager compensa- 
tion they receive for their services and the 
want of steady work. From the depths of 
poverty and des'pair we hear the mutter- 
ing and murmuring and wailing of the 
wronged and oppressed. And wherever 
we find wealth in the greatest abundance, 
there also will be found the greatest 
amount of poverty and misery. Every- 
where we find capital and labor staring 
each other in the face like two gladiators, 
ready to stab each other to death. No 
matter which way we turn, we find capital 
and labor intriguing and organizing. Or- 
ganizing, what for? Who knows? Who 



HEM ED Y. 13 

can tell? Everywhere we find the masses 
restive, dissatisfied, and turbulent. We 
hear of nothing but labor unions, knights 
of labor, anti-poverty clubs, land and lib- 
erty clubs, labor societies and unions, so- 
cialism, communism, boycotts, strikes, lock- 
outs, incendiaries, and labor riots. The 
land is filled with hypocrisy, dishon- 
esty, and avarice. The rich are rapidly 
building up an aristocracy — the middle 
class is quietly disappearing — all the 
wealth and power of the country center 
in the hands of a few, and the great 
masses of the people have already been re- 
duced to commercial and industrial slavery. 
If any one believes that this is an exag- 



i 4 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

geratioti of the facts, that it is more im- 
aginary than real, let him read the arti- 
cles which recently appeared in the Chris- 
tian Union, on the condition of the poor 
in American cities, and be convinced of its 
truth. It is only a short time ago that 
the Hon. D. M. Evans, an ex-miner and 
member of the Legislature from Luzerne 
county, Pa., told the Congressional com- 
mittee who were investigating the cause 
of the miners' strike at Reading, "that 
the condition of the men in the mining 
region was pitiable in the extreme. That 
under the store system and the present 
rate of wages, they could not get enough 
to eat and wear!' This is merely an ex- 



REMEDY. iS 

ample of the condition of affairs that exist 
pretty much all over the country. There 
are forty thousand tenement houses in 
New York city, occupied by more than a 
million tenants. It is only a short time 
since a legislative committee reported that 
there existed in Chicago alone, nine hun- 
dred sweat-shops, with girls working in 
them sixty hours for seventy-five cents. 
And every city has its slums, overcrowded 
by degraded men and women. If any one 
doubts these facts, let him read what Mr. 
J. W. Sullivan has to say upon the sub- 
ject in his " Political Aspects of the Labor 
Problem, v published in a recent work en- 
titled " Factors in American Civilization." 



1 6 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

The evidence is not only abundant, but 
indisputable and decisive. 

These are the things — the sights and 
scenes that turn our civilization and pro- 
gress into a farce and a curse ; that de- 
stroy good government ; that disorganize 
society and cause religion to blush with 
shame. It is this condition of things 
" that crowds human beings into noisome 
cellars and squalid tenement houses ; that 
fills prisons and brothels ; that goads men 
with want and consumes them with greed;, 
that robs women of the grace and beauty 
of perfect womanhood ; that takes from 
little children the joy and innocence of 
life's morning ; " that turns love into 



REMEDY. 17 

hatred ; that provokes man against man ; 
that fills the earth with sighs and groans, 
with weeping and wailing and gnashing 
of teeth ; that imbitters the heart of man, 
hardens his conscience, deprives life of its 
snnshine and joys, destroys happiness, 
produces anguish and tears and melan- 
choly, fires the soul of man with despera- 
tion, and impels him to acts of cruelty 
and desolation. 

And what does all this signify ? Peo- 
ple look calmly on and wonder what it 
means, and ask when and how it is all 
going to end. It means that w r e are in 
the midst of a political revolution. It 
means that labor is organizing to assert 



i8 • THE WAGE- WORKER'S 

its rights. It means that there is going 
to be an accounting between the workers 
and the shirkers. It means that hypoc- 
risy is to be unveiled ; that the men 
who rob labor six days in the week, and 
on the seventh go to church and thank 
the Lord for their success and prosperity, 
are to be exposed. It means better laws, 
better protection and a better government. 
It means the emancipation of those who 
toil for their bread. It means steady 
work and higher wages. It means that 
the wrongs of the masses must be reme- 
died — peaceably if possible, if not, then 
by the sovereign power that sits upon 
nature's throne to enforce the rights of 



REMEDY. 19 

man. It means that if the poor have no 
right to the property of the rich, the 
rich have no right to confiscate the prop- 
erty of the poor. It means that the idle 
shall not fatten npon the stolen products 
of labor. It means that men shall not 
be allowed to accumulate millions in a 
few years by stealth and oppression. It 
means that capital shall not be permitted 
to absorb the entire products of labor, 
except just enough to keep labor alive 
that it may keep on producing. It 
means that people who never ■ worked a 
day or earned a dollar in their lives 
shall not be permitted to buy and hold 
large tracts of land for the purpose of 



20 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

speculating on the necessities of their 
fellow-men, and grow rich at their ex- 
pense. It means that the products of 
labor must be more equitably distributed. 
It means that the weak shall not be de- 
voured by the strong. It means that in 
this fair land of liberty and plenty, every 
man, woman, and child, shall be comfort- 
ably clothed and fed, and that those who 
toil shall enjoy the wealth they create, 
and have some little time to cultivate 
their social, moral, and intellectual 
faculties. 

It is time that capital paused to think. 
It stands upon a precipice. There is a 
deep abyss below. It had better take 



REMEDY. 21 

warning, for the day of retribution is 
near at hand. " The mills of the gods 
grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly 
fine." The hour has come when the 
masses of the people are determined to 
have redress for their wrongs and oppres- 
sions — by legislation, if possible — if not, 
then by the means prescribed by the Dec- 
laration of Independence ! And that is 
what all these organizations and these 
movements and counter-movements, strikes 
and lock-outs and turmoils and troubles 
mean. The handwriting is on the wall, 
and the sooner the fact is recognized the 
better for all concerned. 

In the organization of labor there is 



22 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

hope. In unity there is strength. False 
guides, incompetent and envious leaders, 
and the jealousies born of ambition, may 
occasionally check the labor movement, or 
temporarily divert it from its natural and 
legitimate course ; but it will still go for- 
ward, like the mighty stream that rushes 
on, notwithstanding the eddies and whirl- 
pools that gather in its bosom to impede 
its progress. Already, millions of organ- 
ized wage-workers clamor for right and 
justice. Something must be done. This 
mad condition of things cannot go on for- 
ever. Fate and the eternal laws of natu- 
ral justice have so decreed! 

Some folks may think this is pretty 



REMEDY. 23 

strong language. Perhaps it is. But the 
occasion requires it. If labor is to be 
beard at all, it must speak in thunder- 
ing tones, and words of fire ! The peo- 
ple have been slumbering so long, that 
strong words are necessary to arouse 
them to a sense of duty. 



24 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 



CHAPTER II. 

THE WAGE-WORKER'S WANTS. 

i. — Steady Work. 
2. — Shorter Hours. 
3. — Fair Wages. 

" Every want that stimulates the breast, 
Becomes a source of pleasure when redressed." 

Having indicated the situation between 
capital and labor, the qnestion naturally 
arises what are the causes that have in- 
duced this status of affairs ? 

The impoverished condition of the wage- 
workers to-day is due chiefly to two 
causes — enforced idleness, and low wages. 

All the labor riots, all the strikes, all 



REMEDY. 25 

the boycotts, and all the lock-outs that 
have ever taken place in this country, 
were actuated either directly or indirectly, 
by a difference of opinion between capital 
and labor on two questions : 

1. As to the number of hours that 
should constitute a day's work. 

2. As to the rate of wages to be paid 
per day. 

These are the questions that have in- 
stigated all the troubles between capital 
and labor in the past, and that are likely 
to renew those troubles in the future. 
One of the purposes for which labor was 
organized was to adjust these questions, 
but they have not been settled. And 



26 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

there will be neither peace nor harmony 
between capital and labor until they are. 
How, then, are they to be adjusted? 
What do the wage- workers want? The 
wage-workers want three things — steady 
work, shorter hours, and fair wages. 
These are the essential wants of the 
wage-workers. They are simple, reason- 
able, perpetual, and indispensable. Give 
these three things to the wage-workers 
and the labor problem is solved. 

Every man has the same right to live 
and work that he has to think and 
breathe. These are natural rights. They 
come from God. They are indisputable, 
inalienable, supreme ! Provide the wage- 



REMEDY. 27 

worker with steady employment ; reduce 
his hours of labor to eight hours per day ; 
pay him a fair and just compensation for 
his services, and all the contentions be- 
tween capital and labor will vanish like 
snow before an April's sun. And all these 

i 

things can be given to labor by appropri- 
ate legislation. These three things are 
all that the wage-workers want. They 
are all that the wage-workers can ever 
expect to obtain. To ask for anything 
more would be unreasonable. And where 
is the man who would not give these 
things to the wage-workers if he possess- 
ed the power? If these three things will 
satisfy the wage-workers, restore peace 



28 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

and amity, and put an end to all further 
antagonism between capital and labor, 
why not grant them? Would it be any- 
thing more than fair and just to do so? 
And is it not clear that if these things 
were conceded to the wage-workers, that 
the wage-workers would then have no 
grounds for complaint ; that all labor 
troubles would cease, and that peace and 
prosperity would inevitably prevail ? 

The wage -workers who have steady 
work, reasonable hours, and good wages, 
are not complaining. It is the idle. 
Those who cannot find work ; those who 
are reduced to poverty for the want of 
work ; those who are worked long hours 



REMEDY. 29 

on wages that are barely sufficient to 
enable theni to live, and those who are 
not paid in proportion to the value of the 
services rendered. 

The wrongs of the wage-workers are 
not to be avenged, they must be amicably 
adjusted. The wage-workers must find 
redress for all their grievances in the 
law. When their rights are established 
by statute, it will be an easy matter to 
vindicate them. Legislation is the true 
remedy for all the burdens that oppress 
labor. And the remedy is one that will 
meet with the hearty approval of every 
good citizen. And why ? Because it will 
put to rest all further contention between 



3 o THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

capital and labor, by methods that are at 
once peaceful, just and efficacious. 

Having specified the causes of labor's 
destitution ; having pointed out the sources 
that have led to all our labor troubles ; 
having set forth the wants of labor ; and 
having alleged that the remedy for all 
these evils is to be found in appropriate 
legislation, it simply remains for me 
to designate the legislation necessary to 
abate them. 



REMEDY. 31 



CHAPTER III. 

LEGISLATION THE WAGE-WORKER'S REMEDY. 

" All the space between my mind and the mind of God 
is full of truths, waiting to be crystallized into law for, 
the benefit of the masses." 

In the very nature of things, it is impos- 
sible for a man who toils for a living to 
dwell in idleness. He must labor in order 
that he may live. It is not work that 
kills men, it is the worry and poverty 
produced by enforced idleness. In a great 
and bountiful country like this, every man 
who is willing to work ought to be able 
to find something to do. And yet, tens 



32 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

of thousands of able-bodied men saunter 
about our streets in mid-summer, unable 
to obtain employment. The hours of 
labor, as a rule, are considerably too long, 
and wages generally are altogether too 
low. The cause of this deplorable state 
of affairs must be apparent even to the 
casual observer. What is the cause ? The 
cause is that the supply of labor exceeds 
the demand. In other words, there is not 
work enough for all who want work, and, 
consequently, some must remain idle, while 
those who do work must quietly submit 
to the terms and conditions imposed by 
capital. What is the remedy? The rem- 
edy is twofold : First, the supply of labor 



REMEDY. 33 

must be diminished, and second, the 
demand for labor mnst be increased. iVnd 
how is this to be done ? This can be 
accomplished by proper legislation, the 
natural panacea for all the grievances of 
the wage-worker. Amend the Constitution 
of the United States so as to authorize 
Congress to enact laws for the following 
purposes, and there will soon be steady 
work, shorter hours, and fair wages, for 
every wage-worker in the land : 

i. The suspension of all immigration 
to this country. 

2. The making of eight hours a legal 
day's work. 



34 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

3. The prohibition of marriage under 
the age of twenty-one years. 

4. The prohibition of the employment 
of children under fifteen years of age in 
workshops, factories and mines. 

5. The fixing of the minimum rate of 
wages at two dollars per day for all labor- 
ers, except domestic and farm laborers. 

6. The reduction of the legal rate of 
interest to four per cent per annum. 

7. The purchase of all street railways 
and the placing of them under the con- 
trol and management of the municipal 
authorities. 

8. The purchase of all telegraph, tele- 
phone and railroad lines in the United* 



REMEDY. 35 

States, and the placing of them nnder the 
control and management of the national 
government. 

9. The prohibition of the purchase of 
lands in this conntry by non-resident 
aliens, and the compelling of all non-resi- 
dent aliens who now own lands to sell 
them within a specified time or forfeit 
their titles. # 

Congress already possesses the power 
to suspend immigration, and the several 
State Legislatures have ample authority 
to empower the cities to purchase the 
street railways and run them. 

Let us now briefly consider the ulti- 
mate effect of the legislation proposed, 



36 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

and the benefits to be derived therefrom 

\>y labor, taking up each of the foregoing 

propositions in the order in which they 
are specified. 

I. — Suspend Immigration. 

If all immigration to this country was 
prohibited, there would be work for tens 
of thousands more men and women every 
year. Statistics show that over six hun- 
dred and twenty-three thousand people 
immigrated to this country last year. 
Over five hundred and sixty thousand 
came here the year before, and over five 
millions have come here in the last 
decade, and immigration is steadily on 



REMEDY. 37 

the increase. We . have excluded the Chi- 
nese, we have prohibited the importation 
of contract labor, then why not prohibit 
all immigration, and be done with it ? 
This is what we will have to do ulti- 
mately. Then why not do it at once ? 
The condition of the masses, the low price 
of labor, and two millions of unemployed 
men and women peremptorily demand 
that all further immigration be stopped. 

During the last year over seventy-three 
thousand paupers were supported in our 
poorhouses, and nearly forty-six thousand 
tramps wandered through our streets beg- 
ging for bread. The State of Michigan 
alone supported in its poorhouses, during 



38 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

the year 1890, over four thousand nine 
hundred paupers. It maintained outside 
of its poorhouses, in the same year, over 
three thousand four hundred paupers, and 
afforded temporary relief to over thirty- 
seven thousand people, at a total cost of 
nearly eight hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars. During the month of July, 1893, 
the city of Detroit — as prosperous a city 
as there is in the country — supplied two- 
hundred and twenty families, or eight 
hundred and eighty persons, with provi- 
sions, at a cost of nine hundred and 
seventy-nine dollars. In December, 1893, 
the Secretary of the Poor Commission of 
Detroit reported to the Mayor of the 



REMEDY. 39 

city that the annual appropriation of 
fifty thousand dollars for the relief of the 
poor had been expended ; that four thou- 
sand families — twenty thousand persons — 
would have to be supported for the re- 
mainder of the winter, and that two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars would have 
to be raised . for that purpose. During 
the same month a special committee re- 
ported that twenty-five thousand men in 
Detroit were then idle. In West Bay City 
one thousand men were reported to be 
out of work and in absolute want. A 
committee appointed to visit the Upper 
Peninsula, reported that there were six 
thousand people in Gogebic county, and 



4 o THE WAGE-WORKERS 

two thousand in Dickinson county, who 
must have relief or starve. The commit- 
tee appealed to the public for assistance, 
and asked for one hundred thousand dol- 
lars to carry these people through the 
winter ; and Governor Rich issued two 
proclamations to the people of the State, 
soliciting contributions for the relief of 
the needy. The State Labor Commis- 
sioner reports, that from September i, 1893, 
to February 1, 1894, two thousand and 
sixty-six factories, situated in various parts 
of the State, were inspected and canvassed 
for information regarding the number of 
men unemployed ; and that three hundred 
and seventy-seven of the two thousand 



REMEDY. 41 

and sixty-six factories, including some of 
the largest and most important in the 
State, were idle ; that five hundred and 
seventy-two of them were running on 
short time ; that the average reduction in 
wages was about ten per cent, and that 
forty-eight thousand seven hundred and 
fifty-two of the men who worked in these 
factories were laid off. And the situation 
in Michigan is simply a fair illustration 
of the condition of things all over the 
country. Professor McCook estimates that 
the tramps of this country alone cost the 
people over nine millions a year to sup- 
port them, " a half more than the cost of 
the Indian Department, and one-half the 

4 



42 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

cost of our navy." And it is said that 
we are losing more every day through, 
the enforced idleness of the people than 
it cost to put down the rebellion at its 
most expensive period. 

The only objection raised against put- 
ting an end to immigration is one found- 
ed purely upon sentiment, namely, that 
this country constitutes an asylum for the 
poor and oppressed — a hospital and poor- 
house, so to speak, for the paupers of all 
the rest of the world. It is a well set- 
tled maxim that charity begins at home. 
It is the first duty of every man to pro- 
vide the necessaries of life for himself 
and his family. It is the first duty of 



REMEDY. 43 

every nation to protect its people against 
enforced idleness and want. This may 
seem selfish, but it is natural and right. 
Self-preservation is the first law of nature. 
To aid and comfort the needy is at all 
times commendable. But to bring poverty 
and misery upon our homes by improvi- 
dently assisting others, is to be unjust 
to ourselves and cruel to those whom 
we love. 

Of course, I am well aware of the fact 
that the moralists view the question of 
immigration in a different light. They 
argue that we are all the children of 
God ; that we are all brothers by birth ; 
that God gave the earth to man ; that the 



44 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

earth is common property ; that each man 
has inherited an equal right to use it ; 
" The earth has he given to the children 
of men;" that no man can be deprived of 
this right by law or otherwise ; that to 
prohibit further immigration to this coun- 
try would be an act in derogation of this 
right ; that every man in the world has a 
natural as well as a hereditary right to 
settle upon the earth wherever he pleases, 
and that no man has the power to divest 
another of this right if he chooses to ex- 
ercise it in the pursuit of happiness. 
From a moral standpoint this view of the 
question may be sound. It may also be 
just. Theoretically it seems to be reason- 



REMEDY. 45 

able. My objection to it is, that it is not 
practicable. And this is the reason why 
the idea has neither grown nor been as- 
sented to generally. The majority of the 
people in all ages have rejected it for this 
reason. The affairs of the world to-day 
are governed by practical men, and this 
view of the qnestion they decline to ac- 
cept, on the ground that it is visionary 
and of no practical utility. 

Congress has enacted laws for the pro- 
tection of our manufacturers, against the 
competition of foreign manufacturers, and 
why ? Because foreign manufacturers em- 
ploy the cheap labor of Europe, and for 
that reason our manufacturers are unable 



46 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

to compete with them. This being the 
case, it logically follows that the object of 
our protection laws is not to protect our 
manufacturers against the competition of 
foreign manufacturers, but against the 
cheap labor of Europe? Now, if our man- 
ufacturers cannot compete with the cheap 
labor of Europe, in the name of com- 
mon sense, how are our wage-workers to 
compete with it ? If it is necessary to 
protect our manufacturers, is it not equal- 
ly necessary to protect our wage-workers ? 
If capital needs protection, so does labor. 
Why then protect capital and leave labor 
unprotected? The cheap labor of Europe 
is permitted to come here and force down 9 



REMEDY. 47 

the price of our labor, and that is all 
right ! But foreign manufacturers are not 
allowed to come here with cheap goods to 
force down the price of our goods, because 
that would be all wrong ! In other words, 
our manufacturers are protected against 
the cheap labor of Europe, while our 
wage-workers are obliged to compete with 
it ! Is this just to our wage-workers ? As 
between man and man is it right ? Why 
not extend to our wage-workers the same 
protection we afford to our manufactur- 
ers ? If our manufacturers are to be pro- 
tected in the sale of their commodities 
against foreign competition, why not pro- 
tect our wage-workers in the sale of their 



48 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

commodities (labor) against foreign com- 
petition ? Is it because our wage-workers 
have no rights which our law-makers are 
bound to respect? Is it right to enrich 
our manufacturers at the expense of our 
wage-workers ? Our manufacturers are 
protected, first, against the cheap labor of 
Europe, and second, against high-priced 
labor in this country, by permitting the 
cheap labor of Europe to come here and 
force the price of our labor down. Thus 
it will be seen, that while our manufac- 
turers are protected against the cheap 
labor of Burope and high-priced labor in 
this country, our wage-workers are not 
protected at all ! Evidently Goldsmith 



REMEDY. 49 

was not far out of the way when he ex- 
claimed : 

" Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law." 

Our manufacturers are further protected 
against high-priced labor in this country 
by the establishment of immigration bu- 
reaus in the several States. These bu- 
reaus have expended large sums of money 
to induce immigrants to come here, osten- 
sibly to develop the country, but in real- 
ity to cheapen and degrade American la- 
bor for the benefit of our manufacturers. 

Our manufacturers believe it is all right 
for them to resort to every possible means 
to protect themselves against their com- 
petitors, but as soon as the wage-workers 



So THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

attempt by the same methods to protect 
themselves against their competitors, our 
manufacturers object at once. When our 
wage-workers ask that immigration to this 
country be stopped, our manufacturers 
protest, and say that such a thing is not 
practicable ; that it would be a great mis- 
take ; that to stop all immigration would 
be equivalent to building a Chinese wall 
around us, and would bring commercial 
and industrial ruin upon the country. 

In his " Political Aspects of the Labor 
Problem," Mr. Sullivan says : " Secretary 
Evans, of the American Federation of La- 
bor, recently told me that in the course 
of the year, in all the unions, a third of 



REMEDY. 51 

the men were more or less out of employ- 
ment. And Mr. Jos. R. Buchanan, who 
as economic and exchange editor of the 
American Press Association has the whole 
of this country under view, a month ago 
stated that in his opinion the number of 
the unemployed would-be workers in Amer- 
ica was now two millions." It seems to 
me that something ought to be done im- 
mediately to ameliorate the condition of 
the poor and oppressed within our own 
borders if we would save ourselves from 
disgrace. Is there any charity in inviting 
people here to starve ? This is what we 
are doing. Is it wise to invite or permit 
people to come here, when their coming 



52 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

not only fails to better their condition, 
bnt tends to increase the poverty and 
misery of onr own people ? Is it not un- 
just both to those who are here and to 
those who come here ? 



II. — Make Eight Hours a Legal Day's 
Work. 

If the hours of labor were reduced, and 
eight hours made a legal day's work, 
there would be work for a million of men 
who at present are unable to find employ- 
ment. But some will say, why reduce the 
hours of labor. I will tell you why. 
The hours of labor in almost every kind 



REMEDY, S3 

of trade and industry are too long, and 
should be shortened. Humanity to man, 
the welfare of society, and the best inter- 
ests of the country, physically, morally, 
and intellectually, most emphatically de- 
mand shorter hours. The majority of 
wage-workers rise in the morning at five 
or six o'clock. They begin their work by 
doing their chores about the house. They 
then eat their breakfast and start for their 
place of employment, and walk, perhaps, 
one, two, or three miles to reach it. 
They toil all day. Some amidst the din 
and hum of machinery, and the dirt and 
grime and smoke of illy ventilated facto- 
ries and workshops. Others in the field, 



54 ' THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

upon the housetop, down in the mines, in 
cellars and sewers, by the rippling stream 
and the boisterous sea. When the day's 
work is done, they walk from one to three 
miles to their homes. When they arrive 
it is six or seven o'clock. They are tired 
and dirty, and wet with perspiration. 
They eat their supper. Then they do 
their evening chores. If there is any one 
ill in the house, they go for the doctor 
and medicine. It is now eight or nine 
o'clock. The little ones are going to bed, 
they embrace them tenderly for a moment, 
then kiss them good night. A brief chat 
with their wives completes the daily rou- 
tine, and they too go to bed, for it is late, 



REMEDY. 55 

and they must rise early in the morning, 
perhaps " before the break of day." 

Thus it will be seen, these people have 
no time for recreation, no time for thought, 
no time to read, no time for physical, 
moral, or intellectual improvement. Their 
whole lives are spent in toiling from early 
morning till late at night. They receive 
from their employers about as much con- 
sideration as they would award to a lot 
of cattle. And yet these are the very 
people who support the government in 
peace and fight its battles when in 
war. They are the bones and sinews 
of the nation. 

Any system of government that toler- 



5 6 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

ates this condition of things is legally and 
morally wrong. Go out into the street in 
the morning and evening, when these peo- 
ple are going to and returning from work, 
and gaze for a moment into their pale, 
haggard-looking faces. Watch them as 
they trudge along, men, women, and chil- 
dren, with bent forms, scrawny hands, 
sunken cheeks and dim eyes — with coun- 
tenances downcast and so full of sorrow 
that you cannot help but pity them — and 
then, gentle reader, ask yourself, as a 
Christian, is it not time that the hours 
of labor were reduced? And your con- 
science and your heart will answer, yes. 
And nearly all of these people are poorly 



REMEDY. 57 

fed and illy clad, for their wages simply 
enable them to live and eke out a miser- 
able existence. Thus they jog along to 
premature graves, without hope, and with- 
out sympathy ! Such is life ! Such is 
the dismal and lamentable lot of the mil- 
lions ! Is it strange, or unnatural, or un- 
reasonable, under the circumstances, that 
these people demand a reduction in the 
hours of labor ? If we were in their 
place, would we not make the same de- 
mand? How can men be expected to im- 
prove their situation under such discour- 
aging conditions ? If we deprive a man 
of every means and every opportunity 
for improvement, in the name of common 

5 



5 8 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

sense, how can we expect him to im- 
prove? If we reduce him to the status 
of the brute, how can we expect him to 
be a man? The fact is, the majority 
of employers prefer that their workmen 
should live in ignorance and poverty, be- 
cause then they are all the more slavish 
and subservient to their will. 

Thirteen States have enacted laws regu- 
lating the hours of labor, and have de- 
clared that eight hours shall constitute a 
legal day's work. But not one of these 
laws are enforced, and why ? Because 
they are unconstitutional. The Constitu- 
tion of the United States provides that 
no State shall pass a law impairing the 



REMEDY. 59 

obligation of contracts. Hence the' neces- 
sity of amending the Constitution of the 
United States so as to authorize Congress 
to make eight hours a legal day's work 
in every State in the Union. The Con- 
stitution of the Swiss Republic confers 
authority upon the national legislature to 
limit the hours of labor, and the people 
of Switzerland regard it as a wise provi- 
sion. The eight-hour system, or " Eight- 
Hour Day " as it is sometimes called, has 
existed in Australia and New Zealand for 
nearly half a century. 

The demand of the wage-workers for 
an eight-hour law has been recognized re- 
peatedly by our law-makers, both State and 



6o THE WAGE-WORKERS 

National, as just and beneficial. Congress 
only a short time ago passed a statute 
which provides that eight hours shall 
constitute a day's work for all laborers, 
workmen, and mechanics, who may be em- 
ployed by or on behalf of the Govern- 
ment of the United States. If an eight- 
hour law is beneficial to those who work 
for the National Government, would it not 
be equally beneficial to those who work 
for the State, individuals, or corporations ? 
At a large public meeting recently held 
in London, England, the Hon. Thomas 
Burns, labor leader and member of Par- 
liament, among other things, offered the 



REMEDY. 6 1 

following suggestions for the relief of the 
unemployed : 

i. The introduction of an eight-hour 
bill, to be taken up as a government 
measure and pushed through Parliament 
as rapidly as possible. 

2. The government to use every means 
in its power to induce foreign govern- 
ments to institute an international eight- 
hour law. This to stop the foreign com- 
petition of long hours. 

3. Eight hours to be at once the nor- 
mal working day in all government estab- 
lishments, dock-yards, and arsenals, and 
in all private monopolies, such as rail- 



62 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

ways and tramways, in which foreign com- 
petition does not enter. 

When we consider that there are mil- 
lions of men in this conntry to-day who 
are nnable to obtain work ; that those 
who are employed work only about eight 
months in the year ; that the number of 
unemployed are constant^ increasing ; 
that the natural accretion to our popula- 
tion is about six hundred thousand a 
year ; that over half a million people im- 
migrate to this country annually, making 
a total increase in our population of more 
than a million a }^ear, and that under the 
new order of things millions of women 
and boys are hired to do men's work, 



REMEDY. 6 3 

thus forcing the men into idleness, it is 
apparent to even the most obtuse mind 
that some practical and efficient means 
that will furnish work to the unemployed 
must be resorted to without delay. The 
situation is critical. If we would avoid a 
crisis, we must adopt heroic measures for 
the relief of the unemployed immediately. 

III. — Prohibit Marriage Under the 
Age of Twenty-one Years. 

To prohibit all persons from marrying 
under the age of twenty-one years, would 
prevent the increase of population consid- 
erably, and greatly retard the growth of 
poverty. The ancients determined the 



64 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

proper age to marry by law. The Ro- 
mans fixed the age at twenty-five, the 
Spartans at thirty. Plato thought that 
no man should marry until he was thirty, 
while Aristotle believed it was highly im- 
proper for a man to marry until he was 
thirty-seven. But few men under the age 
of twenty-one are capable of supporting 
themselves, and precious few are able to 
provide for a wife and family. Marriages 
under the age of twenty-one years tend 
to produce poverty and misery and crime. 
Thousands of children are brought into 
the world every year by such marriages, 
who have to be supported either by the 
community or the friends or relatives of 



REMEDY. 65 

the parents. To fix the age of marriage 
at twenty-one years would keep down the 
increase of population in this country at 
least a quarter of a million a year. 

IV. — Prohibit the Employment of 
Children Under Fifteen Years 
of Age in Workshops, Factories 
and Mines. 

Child labor is regulated in nearly every 
European country. In France, night-work 
by children is prohibited under the age 
of sixteen. In Italy, under twelve. The 
law of the Netherlands forbids the em- 
ployment of children in injurious occupa- 
tions, under sixteen, and child labor un- 



66 THE WAGE- WORKER'S 

der the age of twelve years is prohibited. 
In Germany, the employment of children 
under thirteen is forbidden, and children 
between thirteen and fourteen are not al- 
lowed to work more than six hours a day. 
In Sweden, children under the age of 
twelve are forbidden to work in factories. 
In Switzerland, all child labor is prohib- 
ited under the age of fourteen years. If 
all the children under the age of fifteen, 
who are now employed in mines, factories, 
and various kinds of workshops, were dis- 
charged, their ,places would furnish em- 
ployment to thousands of able-bodied men 
who are now idle. And every one of 
these children ought to be at school. It 



REMEDY. 67 

would be a benefit to them, and the na- 
tion, if they were. One of the great 
needs of the country, in every trade and 
industry, is first-class artisans. We must 
send these children to school if we expect 
them to improve in morals and manners 
and grow up in intelligence, and espe- 
cially the boys, if we desire to make skill- 
ful mechanics of them. Most of the chil- 
dren thus employed are hired simply be- 
cause they will work for less wages than 
men. In the positions they occupy they 
are doing men's work. Women are hired 
to fill the place of men for the same rea- 
son. They do the work of men for much 
lower wages. This is all wrong. I be- 



68 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

lieve that in all cases where a woman 
does a man's work, she shonld receive a 
man's wages. The substitution of women 
and children to do the work of men, con- 
stitutes an important factor in the reduc- 
tion of men's wages, and is the means of 
throwing thousands of men out of em- 
ployment every year. 

If the women who work in shops and 
factories were organized into trades-unions 
they would find it greatly to their ad- 
vantage. 



REMEDY, 69 

V. — Fix the Minimum Rate of Wages 
at Two Dollars Per Day. 

I do not believe in paternal rule, but I 
do believe that it is the duty of every 
well constituted government to protect its 
citizens against oppression and want. I 
believe that two dollars is the lowest sum 
that should be paid to any man for a 
legal day's work. It is my firm convic- 
tion that no man who lives in this coun- 
try to-day can support himself and family 
decently and comfortably the year round 
on less wages than two dollars per day. 
The men who are only paid from sixty-five 
cents to a dollar and a half per day for 



7o THE WAGE-WORKERS 

their labor, are the men who in times of 
great commercial and industrial depres- 
sion deplete the relief funds in our large 
cities, crowd our almshouses, and precipi- 
tate riots for bread. They constitute the 
great bulk of the poverty-stricken people 
of the country. These unfortunate men 
are only employed about eight or nine 
months in the year, and the mere pittance 
they receive as wages when they work, 
scarcely enables them to live, and the 
moment they are . thrown into enforced 
idleness, want seizes them with the eager- 
ness that a drowning man seizes a straw. 
The destitution of these impecunious crea- 
tures is indeed pitiable. And the saddest 



REMEDY. 71 

thing of all is that the men who work 
the hardest are paid the poorest wages. 
This is a shame and disgrace to our in- 
telligence and our civilization. These men 
are just as necessary in their sphere as 
the most skillful mechanics are in theirs. 
We could not get along without them. 
Skilled workmen would not perform their 
work at any price unless they were forced 
to do so. And for this reason, if no 
other, they should be paid good wages. 
I believe that to require a man to work 
for less than two dollars a day is the 
worst kind of oppression. And I believe 
that it is the duty of the National Gov- 
ernment to protect its citizens against this 



72 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

sort of wrong, by enacting a law that will 
fix the minimum rate of wages at two 
dollars per day. No man can live de- 
cently and comfortably on less, and I be- 
lieve that every man who toils for a liv- 
ing in this country should receive suffi- 
cient remuneration for his labor to enable 
him to live like a man ! The law fixes 
the highest rate of railroad fares, and the 
highest rate of interest, to prevent oppres- 
sion. Would it not be just as reasonable 
to fix the lowest rate of wages ? Our 
cheap labor is unorganized and unable 
to resist the greed and rapacity of th e 
avaricious. Why then should it not be 
protected by the strong arm of the law? 



REMEDY. 73 

If this is not done, it will not be long 
before this country is overrun with pau- 
per labor. This would be a blot upon 
the fair escutcheon of the nation. It 
would be a disgrace and humility to our 
people. It would cause endless trouble. 
It would imbitter the poor against the 
rich, and lead to perpetual strife and 
bloodshed. Every man who would avert 
such a calamity, should insist with all 
the pride and patriotism of a true Amer- 
ican, that pauper labor shall not exist in 
this country, and to prevent such a catas- 
trophe he should demand that no man 
shall be paid less than two dollars for 
a legal day's work. In the Vermillion 



74 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

range, near Duluth, miners are working 
for eighty cents a day ! In Pennsylvania 
many of the miners are only paid sixty- 
five cents a day ! Think of it ! And on 
this snm they are obliged to support 
themselves and their families ! This is 
outrageous. It might be tolerated in 
darkest Africa. It might not be objected 
to in Japan, China, or India. The peons 
in Mexico would probably accept sixty-five 
or eighty cents a day as fair wages. But 
in free and enlightened America, to offer 
sixty-five or eighty cents a day to the 
humblest proletarian is an insult to 
American labor ! 

It will be claimed that some men are 



REMEDY. 75 

capable of doing more work in a day 
than others, and that every man should 
be paid according to his merits. This is 
true, and the men who can do the most 
work should receive the most pay. What 
I claim is this, that every man who is 
able to work, can earn at least two dol- 
lars a day, and as this sum is necessary 
for the comfortable support of himself 
and family, he should not be paid less 
for a day's work. The man who earns 
more should get more. Such a law would 
not compel any one to hire a man who 
was incompetent to do a fair day's work, 
nor would it prevent any man from ob- 



7 6 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

taining the highest wages he is able 
to earn. 

I believe that the labor question is a 
purely national question ; that all the 
issues involved are national issues, and 
that it is the imperative duty of the 
National Government to see that suitable 
laws are enacted by Congress to protect 
labor against oppression ; and that it is 
the function of the people to amend the 
Constitution of the United States so as 
to confer the power upon Congress to en- 
act such laws. 

We are living in a progressive and in- 
telligent age, and I believe the time has 
come when the Constitution of the Uni- 



REMEDY. 77 

ted States should be amended so as to 
authorize Congress to pass a law fixing 
the minimum rate of wages to be paid 
for a legal day's work. Such a law 
would protect the poor against the rich, 
and the weak against the strong. It 
would prevent the rich from taking ad- 
vantage of the necessities of the poor. 
And while it would not reduce the profits 
of capital, it would increase the income 
of the wage-worker. Capital can adjust 
itself to the price of labor without loss, 
but the wage-worker cannot. In my opin- 
ion the enactment of such a law would 
not only be reasonable and just and hu- 
mane, but it is an absolute necessity. 



78 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

Product-sharing, profit-sharing, co-opera- 
tive production, and many other systems 
have been suggested to take the place of 
the present system of paying wages. 
The system of product-sharing does very 
well as far as it goes, but it is restricted 
to a few lines of business, such as fish- 
ing, farming and mining. It is not prac- 
ticable to apply it to manufacturing and 
other kinds of business. The system of 
co-operative production has proved a la- 
mentable failure wherever it has been 
tried. And the system of profit-sharing 
has not been thoroughly tested. After a 
careful examination of the various sys- 
tems offered as substitutes for the wage 



REMEDY. 79 

system, I have been forced to the conclu- 
sion that the present system of paying 
wages is not only the most satisfactory 
to wage-workers, but the most practical 
solution of the wage question. Men who 
work for a living cannot afford to take 
any risk. They prefer to sell their labor 
at a stipulated sum to be paid on a cer- 
tain day. They then know what they are 
doing and what they can depend upon. 
Profit-sharing and product-sharing are un- 
certainties. It seems to me that the best 
system for labor is to fix the minimum 
rate of wages by law, at two dollars per 
day, and then leave every man free to 



8o THE WAGE-WORKERS 

contract for as much more as his services 
will command. 

The question will be asked, is not la- 
bor, like flour and wheat, a commodity, 
the value of which is regulated by the 
supply and demand ? In a certain sense 
it is, but common sense and common de- 
cency sa}^ it is not ! If a man has flour 
to sell, and he cannot obtain his price 
for it, he can eat it. But if a man has 
labor to sell, and he cannot obtain his 
price for it, he must take what he can 
get or starve ! A sack of flour simply 
represents so much wheat. Labor repre- 
sents a human being ! Mark the distinc- 
tion, bear it well in mind, and impress it 



REMEDY. 81 

deeply upon your heart. The man who 
represents capital expects at all times to 
be considered as a hitman being! Why 
then should he not award the same con- 
sideration to the man who represents la- 
bor ? Capital looks upon labor as a mere 
commodity. Is this manly ? Is it right ? 
Is it humane ? Does not labor represent 
a human being ? And is a human being 
to receive no greater consideration than a 
bag of wheat or a sack of flour ? The 
idea of treating labor as a commodity was 
born in a rude and barbarous age, and 
should be stamped with the seal of dis- 
approval by every honest man in the 
land. If the man who represents capital 



82 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

cannot invest it to advantage, he is not 
obliged to invest it at all. And his cap- 
ital will support him until he can invest 
it profitably. But how is it with the 
man who represents labor? Will his la- 
bor support him until it can be sold to 
advantage? I guess not. For him there 
is no alternative. He must sell his labor 
for what he can get for it or go hungry. 
This is all wrong, and if we are Chris- 
tians, if we possess the feelings and quali- 
ties of true men, if we sympathize with 
those who are less fortunate than our- 
selves, and desire to do our duty towards 
our fellow-men, we must cease to treat 
labor as a mere commodity, and treat it 



REMEDY. S3 

as a human being ! Let it be understood 
henceforth and for all time to come, in 
this great and glorious republic, that we 
as Americans declare labor to represent 
a human being who is not to be treated 
as a mere commodity, but who must, in 
every instance, and in every sense, 
and under all circumstances be treated 
as a human being! To treat labor as 
a mere commodity, degrades it. If we 
would elevate and ennoble American la- 
bor, we must insist that it be stricken 
from the roll of commodities and be 
treated as a human being! 

Every man who toils for a living 
should be paid fair wages. This is es- 



84 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

sential to peace and prosperity. Fair 
wages will enable the wage-workers to 
buy homes, to live better, to wear better 
clothes, to obtain books for the improve- 
ment of their minds, and will make them 
better citizens and more competent work- 
men. And the increased consumption of 
these articles would increase the demand 
for labor and furnish employment to 
thousands of men. The wages of our 
skilled workmen are generally too low. 
According to the last census there are 
more than three millions of bachelors in 
the United States. It is safe to say 
that the majority of these bachelors are 
forced to remain single because of their 



REMEDY. 85 

inability to support a wife and family on 
the wages they receive. No wonder so 
many of onr married men feel discouraged 
because they are unable to save a portion 
of their wages to meet living expenses 
when they are idle. The wage-worker 
who is industrious and frugal, ought to 
be able to acquire sufficient means to 
protect himself against poverty in his old 
age. This he would be able to do if he 
received fair wages for his labor. But 
fair wages he cannot obtain. The result 
is that he finds himself poverty-stricken 
and helpless at a period in life when he 
should enjoy easy circumstances. While 
his employer lives in fine style, enjoys 



86 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

all the comforts and many if not all of 
the luxuries of life, and then saves 
enough every year to make a poor man 
rich, the wage-worker trudges along un- 
able to buy anything but the bare neces- 
saries of life, and in the majority of cases 
is unable to save enough in a lifetime to 
put a roof over his head. And why is 
this ? It is because the wage-worker is not 
paid fair wages. Why is it, that employ- 
ers as a rule grow richer and richer, 
while the wage-workers who labor so 
hard save little or nothing? Is it not 
because the employers absorb all the 
profits on the products of labor? This 
is not right. It ought not to be so. 



REMEDY. 87 

And the time has come when the wage- 
workers are going to demand and will 
insist npon having a more equitable 
share of the profits. The employer in 
the future must be content with smaller 
gains. His profits all along have been 
too large. Hereafter he must pay labor 
more and be satisfied with less himself. 
He shall have the. lion's share of the 
profits on labor, but he shall not have it 
all ! The skilled wage-workers of this 
country are thoroughly organized, and 
they intend to assert their rights and 
maintain them. And the sooner the em- 
ployer understands this and makes up 
his mind to deal justly with them, the 



88 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

better it will be for all concerned. The 
wage-workers to-day are too intelligent to 
.submit to industrial slavery. They know 
what their rights are, and they mean to 
vindicate them at all hazards ! 

If yon ask Mr. Good-talker, the manu- 
facturer — who pays rather low wages to 
his men — why he does not pay his men 
better wages, he will tell you that he is 
doing business on a very small margin. 
That as a matter of fact, the profits in 
his business are so small that he scarcely 
makes anything at all. That to pay 
higher wages would bankrupt him ! If 
higher wages were demanded, he would 
have to retire from business. He would 



REMEDY. 89 

quit business at once if lie could only 
persuade some one to buy him out. But 
such a thing is impossible. There is no 
money in the business, and nobody wants 
it. And he will tell you this in such an 
earnest, plausible, pathetic way, that you 
are inclined to believe all that he says, 
and really sympathize with him and look 
upon him as a truly good man, a philan- 
thropist, who continues his business mere- 
ly to afford employment to his men. 
But what are the facts ? Mr. Good-talker 
is supporting an extravagant family at 
an annual expense of ten thousand dol- 
lars or more a year, the amount varying 

according to the size of his business and 

7 



9 o THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

income. He and his family dress ele- 
gantly, go to all the first-class operas and 
dramas, give costly entertainments, travel 
considerably, drink the finest wines and 
champagnes, set a snmptuons table, drive 
fine horses and carriages, enjoy all the 
comforts of life and many of the luxu- 
ries, and have a good time generally. 
After defraying all these expenses from 
his profits for the year, Mr. Good-talker 
usually has left ten to twenty thou- 
sand dollars to invest in profitable busi- 
ness enterprises. He is estimated to be 
worth to-day several hundred thousand 
dollars, while fifteen or twenty years ago 
he was a poor man. And every year he 



REMEDY. 91 

is estimated to be worth more. Where 
did lie get all his money? If the profits 
in his business are so small that he can- 
not afford to pay higher wages, how has 
he managed to accumulate all his wealth ? 
If his income enables him to live extrav- 
agantly, and luxuriously, and still grow 
richer every year, where does the money 
come from ? Do you know ? If not, I 
will tell you. It comes from the pro- 
ducts of labor ! The wage-workers make 
it all! 

If you ask Mr. Good-talker why it is 
that the profits in his business are so 
small, he will tell you that it is due to 
competition and over-production. There 



92 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

is no doubt but that competition and 
over-production, for several years past, 
have caused a material reduction in the 
price of goods in many lines of business, 
but I have noticed that in almost every 
instance, when goods dropped in price, 
there was a simultaneous reduction in 
wages sufficient to make up the differ- 
ence between the old prices and the new, 
so that the profits of the manufacturer 
remained unchanged, and the loss fell 
upon the wage-workers. Indeed, a slight 
reduction in the price of goods, or the 
introduction of a new piece of labor-sav- 
ing machinery, is often made the pre- 
text to reduce wages to a basis that will 



REMEDY. 93 

increase the profits of the manufacturer. 
Over-production is the result of low 
wages. The wage-worker to-day does not 
earn enough to buy what he produces. 
Raise his wages and j^ou immediately 
increase consumption. Pay him better 
wages so that he can buy what he wants, 
and our surplus goods will soon be con- 
sumed. When wages are high there is 
no over-production, and why ? Because 
then the people have the money to buy 
all that is produced. 

Mr. Good-talker says, however, that he 
would be only too glad to sell out if he 
could find a customer to buy his busi- 
ness. But you let a responsible party 



94 THE WAGE- WORKER'S 

make him an offer for his business, and 
see what he will say. He will proceed 
to convince him that the profits in his 
business are simply immense, and prob- 
ably will refuse to sell out at all, unless 
the purchaser agrees to pay him a big 
bonus for the good-will of the business. 

And still, if you tell Mr. Good-talker 
that you believe he is making money, he 
will deny the fact, and he will tell you 
that no one is making money to-day, that 
one-half of all the business men in the 
country are in a state of semi-bankruptcy, 
and to sustain his assertion he will call 
your attention to the large number of 
failures annual!}^. Of course, there are a 



REMEDY. 95 

good many failures every year, not only 
in this country but in every county. 
But these failures are not the result of 
paying fair wages to wage-workers. They 
are due to other causes. The facts in 
nearly every case will show that a con- 
siderable number of the men who fail in 
business are extravagant and live beyond 
their means. Many of them do not un- 
derstand the business they are engaged 
in, and are ruined by trusting it to oth- 
ers. Some are addicted to dissolute hab- 
its and neglect their business. Others 
are poor financiers, feeble managers, in- 
efficient in executive ability, and are ut- 
terly incompetent to carry on their busi- 



96 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

ness or to conduct their affairs, and this 
is why they fail. During the last quar- 
ter of a century this country has pro- 
duced more millionaires in proportion to 
its population than any other country in 
the world, and a good portion of these 
millionaires have made their millions out 
of labor. A list of all persons in the 
United States reputed to be worth a mil- 
lion dollars or more, was published in 
"The Tribune Monthly" for June, 1892. 
At that time there were four thousand 
and forty-seven " American Millionaires," 
one thousand one hundred and twenty- 
five of whom made their money mainly 
in protected industries. In France there 



REMEDY. 97 

are not more than a dozen millionaires. 
In Germany there is bnt one. In Rnssia 
and India there are no millionaires at 
all, except a few titled gentlemen, whose 
fortunes were inherited throngh ancestors 
of royal blood, who originally obtained 
their wealth from the people by fraud 
and oppression. 

The labor problem will never be settled 
in this conntry until the wage-workers 
are paid fair wages. We may fix the 
minimum rate of wages by law, but that 
is all it is practicable to do by legisla- 
tion, because wages will always vary ac- 
cording to circumstances and the merits 
and skill of the wage-worker. Organized 



9 8 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

labor must do the rest. And if the wage- 
workers will only pull together there will 
be no difficulty in their obtaining what 
they want. 

But the capitalists say the wage-work- 
ers are a dissipated, improvident lot ; 
many of them do not know what are 
fair wages ; many of them are unappre- 
ciative ; most of them bring their poverty 
and troubles upon themselves by indis- 
cretion and recklessness, and that if you 
were to give them the earth they would 
not be satisfied. Well, admitting this to 
be true as to a few of the wage-workers, 
does not the imputation apply with equal 
force to a few of the capitalists ? There 



REMEDY. 99 

are just as good men among the wage- 
workers as there are among the capital- 
ists. And there are men among both 
who are equally despicable. The major- 
ity of wage-workers are sensible, sober, 
honest men, who know when they are 
treated right, and they know very well 
what constitutes fair wages, and if they 
are paid fair wages there is no doubt but 
what they will be satisfied. 

How then is the question as to what 
constitutes fair wages to be determined? 
This question must be decided by the 
mutual consent of the parties interested. 
And how are these parties to meet to 
discuss the matter ? This is easily set- 



ioo THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

tied. For instance, let the members of 
the Carpenters' Union of the city of De- 
troit get together, say about November 
first of each year, and discuss the ques- 
tion of wages. Let them agree among 
themselves upon a scale of wages for the 
ensuing year. Then let them appoint a 
committee to meet a committee to be ap- 
pointed by their employers, to talk the 
matter over and fix upon a scale of 
wages for the year. And let the several 
trades-unions representing the different 
kinds of labor do the same thing. Then 
both the wage-workers and their employ- 
ers will know what wages are to be for 
the following year, say from January first 



REMEDY. ioi« 

to January first, and then the employers 
can figure on contracts for the year and 
adjust their prices accordingly. This 
ought to be agreeable to all concerned. 
And if this method is pursued each year 
there can be no trouble between employ- 
ers and wage-workers as to the rate of 
wages to be paid, and strikes will soon be- 
come a thing of the past. This is the only 
way that the rate of wages can be amica- 
bly adjusted, unless boards of arbitration 
are established for that purpose. And 
this must be done every year. It is not 
practicable to do it otherwise. It is not 
right for the wage-workers to wait until 
their employers have made their contracts 



io2 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

for the year, and then demand a raise in 
wages. The raise in wages shonld be de- 
manded before the contracts are made. 
There will then be no ground for com- 
plaint on the part of employers. And it 
seems to me this is not only a prac- 
tical but a sensible way to settle the 
question of wages for the year. But the 
wage-workers will say, suppose the em- 
ployers will not appoint a committee to 
fix the scale of wages, then what? This 
will indicate that the employers are not 
disposed to pay fair wages, and this being 
the case, let the wage-workers agree upon 
a scale of wages themselves, and then in- 
sist to a man that the scale must be 



REMEDY. 103 

paid. If this is done, and the wages de- 
manded are fair and reasonable, the wage- 
workers' course will meet with the hearty 
support of every good citizen, and the 
employers will be forced by public senti- 
ment to acquiesce in their demand. 

In England, disputes between capital 
and labor are amicably adjusted by what 
are known as joint boards of conciliation 
and arbitration. These boards have exist- 
ed for many years, have been thoroughly 
tested, and are pronounced a great suc- 
cess. They are representative in charac- 
ter, and are composed of an equal num- 
ber of employers and employees. Similar 
boards have been organized in Belgium, 



io 4 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

and have given entire satisfaction to botli 
the employer and the employed. In this 
country the methods adopted for the peace- 
ful settlement of labor disputes by the 
Mason Builders' Association, the bricklay- 
ers' unions, and the Laborers' Union Pro- 
tective Society, of the City of New York, 
the Chicago Masons and Builders' Asso- 
ciation, and the United Order of Ameri- 
can Bricklayers and Stone Masons, of the 
City of Chicago, the National Association 
of Builders, and the Mason Builders' 
Association, of the City of Boston, have 
attracted wide attention, and are likely to 
be adopted by most of the trades-unions. 
Those who desire to become familiar with 



REMEDY. ios 

the various systems of these boards and 
joint committees of arbitration and con- 
ciliation, and the rules under which they 
were organized, would do well to con- 
sult " Industrial Conciliation/' by Henry 
Crompton, and a more recent work on 
the subject by Josephine Shaw Lowell, 
'entitled " Industrial Arbitration and Con- 
ciliation." 

While the future of the farmers of this 
country begins to brighten, the future of 
the wage-worker looks dark and forebod- 
ing. During the last thirty years about 
one hundred millions of acres of land 
have been brought under cultivation in 
the United States. This has been the 



1 06 THE WA GE- WORKER'S 

means of reducing the price of farm pro- 
ducts. But as the Government lands are 
about all gone, this will never occur 
again. Hence our surplus of food will 
gradually diminish, and with the rapid 
increase of population, farm products will 
enhance in value every year, and the 
cost of living to the wage-workers will 
steadily advance. So that unless there is 
a corresponding increase in the rate of 
wages, the struggle of the wage-workers 
for a subsistence will be much harder in 
the future than it is at present. 



REMEDY. 107 

VI. — Reduce the Legal Rate of In- 
terest to Four Per Cent Per 
Annum. 

Reduce the prevailing high rates of in- 
terest, and you remove a great evil from 
our midst. Our business men, farmers, 
and wage-workers are unable to pay the 
present rates of interest and be prosper- 
ous. The payment of these high rates 
of interest has wrecked and ruined more 
men than almost any other cause. It 
has driven many a merchant out of busi- 
ness. It has been the means of many a 
farmer losing his farm. It has compelled 
many a wage-worker to throw up his 



io8 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

contract for the purchase of a home, after 
he had made his pajmients thereon for 
several years. No man should be obliged 
to pay more than four per cent per an- 
num. This is all the law should require. 
It is all any man can afford to paj-:. 

These high rates of interest tend to 
support high rents. If the rates of inter- 
est were reduced, rents would be compara- 
tively lower. Rents are now fixed largely 
by the value of the propeiiy and existing 
rates of interest. The man who invests 
his money in rentable propert}% generally 
demands a rent on his investment equiv- 
alent to the prevailing rate of interest. 
To illustrate : If a man invests five thou- 



REMEDY. 109 

sand dollars in a house and lot, lie ex- 
pects to rent it for a sum sufficient to 
pay the going rate of interest on his in- 
vestment, and enough more to reimburse 
him for the taxes he pays and the cost 
of insurance and repairs. He then has 
the increase in the value of the property 
besides. Small tenements such as are 
usually rented to wage-workers, will gen- 
erally pay such a rental, while property 
of greater value will not net the owner 
more than four or five per cent. 

There are millions of wage-workers in 
this country to-day, who have purchased 
homes on contract or otherwise, who are 
paying from six to ten per cent interest 



no THE WAGE-WORKERS 

on the balance of the purchase price. 
This keeps them poor. It is a burden 
the3 r are unable to bear. Many of them 
are obliged to deprive themselves of nec- 
essaries to pay it. Besides, it makes 
their homes cost them too much, and it 
takes all their savings during the best 
years of their lives to pay for them. To 
cut down the rates of interest one-third or 
one-half would make a big difference to 
our merchants , farmers and wage-workers. 
Millions of our people have purchased 
stoves, sewing machines, furniture, and 
other articles, on contract, and in everv 
instance they are obliged to pay these 
hiodi rates of interest. So far as the 



REMEDY. in 

wage-workers are concerned, a reduction 
in these Iiigli rates of interest would be 
equivalent to an increase of wages, be- 
cause it would permit them to save the 
amount of the reduction. It would bring 
about a material reduction in rents, and 
would reduce the rates of interest now 
paid by our municipal, state, and national 
governments, and thus prove a benefit to 
the taxpayers. The people would have 
more money to disburse for articles that 
require labor to produce. This would in- 
crease the demand for labor, and probably 
advance the rate of wages. 

Most of the laws fixing these high 
rates of interest were enacted a good 



ii2 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

many years ago, when money was scarce 
in this country, and it was necessary to 
offer some inducement to foreign capital 
to allure it to our shores. The necessity 
which gave birth to these laws has long 
since passed away. They are maintained 
to-day simply for the benefit of the bro- 
kers, bankers, real estate speculators, for- 
eign capitalists, the people who rent prop- 
erty, and those who loan money. They 
are obnoxious to the masses of the 
people, are burdensome, and should be 
repealed. 



REMEDY. 113 

VII. — Our Cities Should Own the 
Street Railways, and Run them 
for the Benefit of the People. 

If all street railways were owned and 
controlled by the municipal authorities, 
they' could be run for the benefit of the 
people. Nearly all of our cities supply 
the people with water, and have a Board 
of Public Works to superintend public 
improvements. Many municipalities have 
their own gas and electric light plants, 
and it would be an easy matter for all of 
our cities to buy up the street railways 
either before or at the expiration of their 
charters, and run them. The idea is per- 



ii 4 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

fectly practical, and the benefits which 
the people would derive from such a 
scheme is a good and sufficient reason 
for its adoption. Our cities should grant 
no more charters or franchises to street 
railway corporations. All new lines 
should be built and owned by the people. 
If our street railways were run by our 
cities, it is safe to say that they would 
be run upon a basis that would enable 
the authorities to reduce the fare to three 
cents and furnish transfers to any part 
of the city. It costs the people a large 
sum of money every year for street car 
fare, and this reduction in the fare would 
materially reduce their annual expenses. 



REMEDY. US 

It would enable the people to keep in 
their pockets a considerable sum of 
money which they now r pay to the street 
car companies. So far as the wage-work- 
ers are interested, it would be equivalent 
to an advance in wages to the extent of 
the difference between the old fare and 
the new. Besides , this reduction in car 
fare would induce double the number of 
people to ride on the street cars, and this 
in turn would require a corresponding in- 
crease in the number of cars to carry 
them. This would necessitate the em- 
ployment of double the number of street 
railway employees to carry on the in- 
creased business, and would afford work 



n6 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

to a large number of men to get out the 
materials for and build the additional 
cars that would be needed. Our cities 
would doubtless pay fair wages to their 
men, and this would put an end to street 
railway strikes. 

VIII. — The Chief Telegraph, Tele- 
phone, and Railroad Lines Should 
be Owned and Run by the Na- 
tional Government. 

The principal telegraph, telephone, and 
railroad lines in the United States are 
owned and controlled by a few men, who 
no doubt would sell them to the Govern- 



REMEDY. 117 

ment at a reasonable price, and take 
Government bonds at a low rate of inter- 
est in payment for them. If the Govern- 
ment owned these lines the present rates 
of telegraphing and telephoning could be 
rednced at least one-half, and the railroad 
rates for carrying freights and passengers 
could be cnt down to the actual cost of 
carrying them. If this were done what 
would be the result ? Millions of dollars 
that are now paid to these lines annually, 
would remain in the pockets of the peo- 
ple. The business of these lines would 
more than double in a short time. This 
would necessitate the employment of twice 
as many people as are now hired to do 



nS THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

the work. Double the number of cars 
would be required to carry on the busi- 
ness, and this would give employment to 
thousands of men who are now idle, to 
get out the materials and build them. 
The cheap railroad fares would enable 
the wage-workers to migrate to points 
where labor was in greatest demand. 
And it is but reasonable to assume that 
the Government would pay the employees 
on these lines fair wages, and thus do 
away with strikes. Besides, the time has 
come when it is necessary that these 
lines should be owned and controlled by 
the Government. Emergencies are apt to 
arise not only in time of peace, but in 



REMEDY. 119 

the event of an invasion by a foreign 
foe, and in moments of great political ex- 
citement such as lead to intestine war, 
when the private ownership of these lines 
might prove a menace to the life of the 
nation. The railroads of the country 
have become a mighty power in the land. 
Their annual revenue amounts to more 
than double that of the Government. 
And they employ from six to ten times 
as many persons to carry on their oper- 
ations. That the scheme is a practical 
one there can be no doubt. The manage- 
ment of railroads by the Government has 
been made a success in Belgium, Den- 
mark, Sweden, Switzerland, and several of 



120 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

the smaller German States ; also in Aus- 
tria, Prussia, Hungary, and Russia, and 
in some of the Australian Colonies. 

It is a well known fact that the divi- 
dends of many of our railroads to-day 
are small. Some of them do not pay div- 
idends at all. And railroad stocks as a 
rule are undesirable. Hence this is a 
good time to buy them. With .the in- 
crease of our population there will be an 
increase of business on all the railroads 
in the country, and it will not be many 
years before railroad stocks will be as de- 
sirable as the stock in a national bank. 
It will then be difficult to purchase them. 



REMEDY. 121 

If the Government is to ever own these 
lines , now is the time to buy them. 

Those who desire to know all about 
the railway problem, will find it to their 
advantage to read " National Consolida- 
tion of the Railways of the United 
States/ 1 by George H. Lewis. This is 
the latest publication on the theme, and 
it discusses the whole subject from a 
legal, political, social, and financial stand- 
point. It is a very interesting and in- 
structive work. It submits a plan for the 
consolidation of all our railroads, which if 
adopted, would place them under the su- 
pervision of the National Government, 

9 



122 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

while the railroads themselves would be 
owned and controlled by the people. 

The telegraph lines in Switzerland, and 
England, are owned by the Government. 
In 1880 the telegraph lines in England, 
notwithstanding rates are much lower 
there than they are in the United States , 
earned $300,000 over and above all ex- 
penses, which amount was turned into 
the public treasury. 

IX. — Land and Non-Resident Aliens. 

Millions of acres of land have been 
purchased in this country by non-resident 
aliens for purely speculative purposes. 
The idea is to hold these lands for a few 



REMEDY. 123 

years and then pnt them upon the mar- 
ket at prices that will net the owners ten 
times their original cost. These lands 
cannot be bonght until the owners are 
ready to sell them, and then the purchas- 
ers must pay the owners their price for 
them. And thus our citizens are de- 
prived by foreign speculators of the op- 
portunity to purchase these lands until 
they are ready to sell them. Is this 
right ? Ought such a thing to be tolerated 
under the law? Is not this an imposi- 
tion upon our citizens ? Is it not time 
that our people should be afforded protec- 
tion against alien speculators ? Shall we 
permit this thing to continue until the 



i2 4 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

price of lands is so high that not more 
than one out of a hundred of our people 
are able to buy them? And all this for 
the benefit of a lot of alien speculators 
who have about as much interest in the 
welfare of this country as the Hottentot 
has in the w r elfare of Michigan ? This 
is a shame, and it should be stopped at 
once. If these lands were thrown into 
the market to-day, tens of thousands of 
our citizens who are living in our cities 
would purchase and live upon them. This 
would decrease the population of our 
over-crowded cities, and give employment 
to thousands of men who are now idle 
and suffering for the want of work. Be- 



REMEDY. 125 

sides, thousands of men would find em- 
ployment on these lands, to work and de- 
velop them. It seems to me that it is 
high time that our law-makers opened 
their eyes to the situation and adopted 
active measures to protect our citizens 
against this sort of speculation. A law 
should be enacted by Congress prohibit- 
ing the purchase of lands by non-resi- 
dent aliens, and requiring all non-resident 
aliens who now own lands to dispose of 
them within a specified time, or in default 
thereof, forfeit their titles. 



126 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

The Conclusion. 

There are many other equally impor- 
tant matters which call for legislative 
action, but these measures alone, if car- 
ried into effect, would afford labor the 
relief desired. They would stimulate a 
demand for labor on the one hand — that 
would exhaust the present superfluous 
supply — and cut off the foreign supply on 
the other. Labor as a commodity would 
enhance in value, and wages would steadily 
rise. These changes would afford ample 
protection to labor, and provide work for 
all. And my experience and observation 
has led me to the conclusion that when 



REMEDY. 127 

there is plenty of work for the masses, at 
fair wages, and reasonable hours, the 
masses are content and prosperous. Bnt 
when work is scarce and wages low, with 
millions of men seeking employment in 
vain, discontent prevails, and peace and 
prosperity vanishes. 

Of course, there are constitutional im- 
pediments to some of these changes, but 
constitutions unsupported by public senti- 
ment may be amended or abrogated at 
the will of the people who made them. 
The masses of the people can rule if 
they will. The majority of the people 
have the power to make and unmake 
law r s. If the people are only determined 



128 THE WAGE- WORKER'S 

in their purpose they can accomplish 
their ends. When the masses can con- 
trol by their votes the State and National 
Legislatures, the millenium will not have 
been reached, but there will be the dawn- 
ing of a brighter and happier day when 
the people of the country, through their 
representatives assembled, shall assume 
the responsibility of clearing up the 
many and intricate difficulties which ob- 
struct the solution and final adjustment 
of the labor question. 

We are living in a corrupt and venal 
age. The old political parties are in the 
hands of machine-made politicians, who 
are ready to sacrifice everything to obtain 



REMEDY. 129 

the spoils of office. The scramble for po- 
litical power and its emoluments is a dis- 
grace to the nation. All that party lead- 
ers seem to contemplate is party victory. 
Even the influence of the Government is 
ntilized to further party interests. And 
the chief object of our statesmen is to 
provide good comfortable positions for po- 
litical wire-pnllers. And in order that 
these statesmen may not go wrong, they 
have adopted the following rules for their 
gnidance : First, look out for yourself, 
and do all you can to promote your own 
personal welfare. Second, after you have 
done all you can for yourself, do your 
utmost to advance the best interests of 



i 3 o THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

your party, because in so doing you are 
advancing your own personal interest. 
And third, after you have done what 
you can for yourself and your party, 
if you can do anything for the people 
without putting yourself to any incon- 
venience, why do it, but not otherwise. 
These rules do not promise much to the 
people. Were it not for the patriotism 
and honesty of a few reliable men who 
are looking after the affairs of the na- 
tion, our Government would soon collapse 
into a state of dissolution. Every legis- 
lative body in the country is controlled 
to-day by unscrupulous, self-preferred, ma- 
chine-made politicians. They assume to 



REMEDY. 131 

represent the people, but they are 
not the people's chosen representatives. 
Money and political corruption has placed 
them where they are. Had the people 
had anything to say about it, scarcely 
one of them would be holding the office 
they occupy. Most of them care as little 
for the interests of the people as they do 
for the heathen Chinese. All they care 
for is the political machine. The Ameri- 
can people will rise up in all their might 
some day and smash these political ma- 
chines into smithereens. iVnd it is hoped 
that the day when this will be done is 
near at hand. If the American people 
wish to preserve the integrity and honor 



t$2 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

of the nation , it will have to be done 
soon. When men of merit and ability 
and brains, who are qualified in every 
particular to represent the people, are 
rudely brnshed aside to give prefer- 
ence to the machine-politician, and the 
man with the " barrel of money/' it is 
time for the American people to pause 
and consider the situation. There is one 
thing at least that we should bear in 
mind, the downfall of a nation is always 
preceded by a marked decline in public 
morality. 

The United States Senate to-day is 
composed principally of millionaires. If 
this office was an elective one, as it 



REMEDY, 133 

ought to be, nine out of ten of our pres- 
ent senators would soon be returned to 
private life. The men who are chosen 
for this office generally, by the State 
Legislatures, are not the choice of the 
people, nor are they such men as the 
people want. The Senate cannot be abol- 
ished, but its members may, and should 
be, elected by popular vote. The corrupt 
methods used to obtain this office is de- 
moralizing and scandalous. 

No man can expect to be nominated for 
Congress to-day, unless he contributes a 
large sum of money to a corruption fund 
to secure his election. Dishonesty and 
trickery permeates our whole political 



i 3 4 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

system. The political " bosses' 1 run our 
caucuses, run our conventions, dictate 
who shall be nominated for all the 
offices, and after they have made up their 
tickets, they kindly condescend to invite 
the people to vote for them. The men 
who are elected to legislative offices, as 
a rule, are the tools of the political 
u bosses," and the " bosses " in turn are 
the tools of moneyed men who make lib- 
eral contributions to the campaign funds. 
As a result, all legislation is in favor of 
the moneyed classes, and the masses of 
the people get nothing. These political 
" bosses " have systematically reduced the 
people to a state of political slavery, suf- 



REMEDY. 135 

ficiently humiliating to cause the blush 
of shame to mantle the cheeks of every 
true American. 

Examine the congressional records for 
the past twenty-five years, and what w T ill 
you find ? Laws for the protection of 
manufacturers ; laws for the protection of 
banks ; laws for the protection of monop- 
olies ; laws for the protection of trusts, 
syndicates, railroads, corporations, and the 
rich people generally. But you will find 
no laws for the protection of labor. No 
laws for the welfare of the masses. No 
laws for the protection of the weak and 
helpless. You will find plenty of laws 
for the benefit of the few, but none for 



136 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

the benefit of the many. All legislation 
has been class legislation. Legislation 
for the purpose of granting special privi- 
leges, legislation for the promotion of 
party interests, and legislation for politi- 
cal revenue only. The lands of the 
people have been frittered away and have 
passed beyond their control. Fifty mil- 
lions of acres of public lands have been 
granted to States and corporations since 
1850 to aid in building railroads. The 
Union Pacific Railroad alone received a 
grant of twenty-three millions of acres. 
And altogether, about two hundred and 
fifty millions of acres of the people's 
lands have been given away, principally 



REMEDY. 137 

to . railroad -corporations. This being the 
situation, is it not time that the people 
woke up and found out where they are ? 
Evidently : 

"Wrong rules the land, while waiting Justice sleeps." 

Mr. James Bryce, a member of Parlia- 
ment, in his work entitled u The Ameri- 
can Commonwealth/' says : " The whole 
machinery, both of the National and 
State Governments, is worked by the po- 
litical parties. Parties have been organ- 
ized far more elaborately in the United 
States than anywhere else in the world, 
and have passed more completely under 



the control of a professional class. * 

10 



# & 



138 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

Politics, considered not as the science of 
government, but as the art of winning 
elections and securing offices, has reached 
in the United States a development sur- 
passing in elaborateness that of England 
or France, as much as the methods of 
these countries surpass the methods of 
Servia or Roumania. * * * The civil 
service in America is not a career. Place- 
hunting is the career ; and an office is 
not a public trust, but a means of requit- 
ing party services. In the Federal Civil 
Service there are about 120,000 places. 
Politics in America are, in fact, a squab- 
ble over offices and jobs. :i: * The 
politicians have the spirit of self-interest 



REMEDY. 139 

to rouse them, and the bridle of fear 
to check any stirrings of independence. 
They are organized in rings which are 
dominated by ' Bosses.' What the client 
was to his patron at Rome, what the 
vassal was to his lord in the Middle 
Ages, that the leaders and workers are 
to their l Boss ' in the great transatlantic 
cities, where Ring-and-Bossdom has at- 
tained its amplest growth, overshadowing 

the whole field of politics. :i: * :|: Toil 

• 
for the public good is usually unfruitful 

in the House of Representatives. :|: :;: :|: 
But toil for the pecuniary interest of one- 
self and one's friends is fruitful. The 
Senate has become, practically, an assem- 



i 4 o THE WAGE-WORKERS 

bly of plutocrats. Some are Senators be- 
cause they are rich ; a few are rich be- 
cause they are Senators. " Mr. Emerson, 
in his " Essays," tells us : " The Presi- 
dent has paid dear for his White House. 
It has commonly cost him all his peace 
and the best of his manly attributes. To 
preserve for a short time so conspicuous 
an appearance before the world, he is 
content to eat dust before the real mas- 
ters, who stand behind the throne." Mr. 
Lowell, in his " Essays on Government," 
says : " The American politician is a 
member of. an army of office-seekers, 
whose warfare is waged chiefly with a 
rival warfare of office-seekers, and the 



REMEDY. 141 

spoils of victory, in the form of public 
offices * * are allotted strictly to 

the officers who have organized and dis- 
ciplined these voters — to persons more 
vulgarly called the workers or wire-pull- 
ers of the party. " Mr. Henry George, 
in his " Social Problems," says : " In 
many cities the ordinary citizen has no 
more influence in the government un- 
der which he lives than he would 
have in China. He is, in reality, not 
one of the governing classes, but of the 
governed. * * * The political ' Boss ' 
makes a business of gaining power and 
then selling it." Mr. W. S. Lilly, in his 
essay on " Self-Go vernment," cleverly -re- 



1 42 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

marks : " This is the source of the im- 
measurable corruption of public life in 
the United States, for the ' Boss ' is, as a 
rule, utterly venal ; he regards and uses 
power merely as a way to wealth.'- Arid 
so I might go on ad infinitum. But I 
will not weary the reader. The independ- 
ent press both at home and abroad, the 
magazines, the reviews, and the current 
literature of the day, denounce in the 
most emphatic and scathing terms the 
corrupt and demoralizing methods em- 
ployed by the horde of unscrupulous 
wire-pulling politicians who run our 
government. 

And thus it is, that the American 



REMEDY. 143 

people are disgraced before the world by 
the scandalous conduct of a swarm of po- 
litical demagogues, who have taken pos- 
session of the government and control it 
in their own interest, to the detriment of 
the people. The greatest evil that the 
American people have to contend with 
to-day — an evil that threatens the very 
life of the Republic — is party government. 
Our national government is no longer a 
representative government ; it is no lon- 
ger a government calculated to insure 
" the greatest happiness of the greatest 
number " ; it is no longer " a government 
of the people, by the people, and for the 
people. " On the contrary, it is essentially 



i 4 4 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

a party government, run by a multitude of 
professional politicians and party "Bosses" 
in the interest of party and an army of 
office-seekers. The political machine-made 
"bosses," the political wire-pullers, the po- 
litical demagogues, the professional office- 
holders and office-seekers of the old polit- 
ical parties, are not only irredeemably 
corrupt in their political methods, but 
their perfidious and dishonest practices 
are rapidly demoralizing the flower and 
youth of the land. For this condition of 
things there is but one remedy. Every 
loyal American citizen who loves his 
country more than he does his party, 
should at once make Avar on this army 



REMEDY. 145 

of politicians and " Bosses, " and never rest 
until every one of them — horse, foot and 
dragoon — are relegated to private life, and 
their places filled with competent honest 
men. 

" Men whom the lust of office does not kill, 
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy ; 
Men who possess opinions and a will, 
Men who have honor, men who will not lie." 

When this has been done, the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, and the Consti- 
tutions of the several States, should be 
amended so as to make it obligatory on 
our law-makers to submit all important 
legislative enactments to the people for 
their approval. This would enable our 
citizens to make their own laws ; it would 



146 THE WAGE-WORKER'S ■ 

prevent class legislation ; it would do 
away with jobbery and corruption in 
our legislative assemblies ; it would pu- 
rify our system of politics ; it would 
give us fewer and better laws ; it would 
give ns a government that would afford 
" equal rights to all men, and special 
privileges to none/' and above all, it 
would destroy party government root and 
branch. 

This method of law-making would in- 
volve no new principles. In Switzerland 
the laws have been made directly by the 
people, through the Initiative and Refer- 
endum, for more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury. Direct legislation and local self- 



REMEDY. 147 

government are familiar doctrines to the 
American people. As a rule, the constitu- 
tional laws of the States can only be 
changed by a vote of the people. The State 
Constitutions provide for a multiplicity of 
legislative measures that can only become 
laws by the sanction of the people. Our 
township governments, as they exist to- 
day in New England, and in parts of 
Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, 
Minnesota, Dakota, and other States, are 
run upon the principles of the Initiative 
and the Referendum. And so are many 
of our cities and counties. In Michigan, 
about forty amendments to the State Con- 
stitution have been submitted to the peo- 



148 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

pie since 1850. In reality , the principles 
of the Initiative and Referendum permeate 
our whole system of government, town, 
county, municipal, and state, and are to 
be seen in operation to some extent, in 
some form or other, in almost every State 
in the Union. 

The power of the law is almost infinite. 
With the enactment of beneficial laws, 
and the aid of an honest judiciary to en- 
force them, labor can accomplish its aims 
and secure its rights. The Constitution 
of the United States is the supreme law 
of the realm, and can be abolished or 
amended at the will of the people. And 
the first thing to be done if we are to 



REMEDY. 149 

make any progress towards the better- 
ment of the condition of labor, is to 
amend the Constitution of the United 
States so as to invest Congress with the 
power to enact laws as follows : To sus- 
pend all further immigration to this coun- 
try ; to make eight hours a legal day's 
work ; to prohibit marriage under the age 
of twenty-one years ; to forbid the em- 
ployment of children under fifteen years 
of age in workshops, factories, and mines ; 
to fix the minimum rate of wages at two 
dollars per day for all laborers except do- 
mestic and farm laborers ; to reduce the 
legal rate of interest to four per cent, per 
annum ; to create three new departments 



150 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

of government, to be known as the Rail- 
road Department, Telegraph Department, 
and Telephone Department, each depart- 
ment to be authorized, upon certain con- 
ditions and under certain restrictions, to 
purchase the principal railroad, telegraph, 
and telephone lines in the United States, 
to be paid for in government bonds, and 
to prohibit the purchase of lands by non- 
resident aliens, and compel non-resident 
aliens who now own lands in the United 
States to sell them within a reasonable 
time, to be specified b}- law T , or forfeit 
their titles. 

There are many reasons why it is not 
practical for the States to legislate on 



REMEDY. 151 

these subjects. The States have no 
power to stop immigration. If they pass 
laws, as many of them have done, mak- 
ing eight hours a legal day's work, they 
are unconstitutional, and cannot be en- 
forced. If Ohio should reduce the rate 
of interest to four per cent, per annum, 
capital would withdraw to other States. 
If Michigan alone were to fix the mini- 
mum rate of wages at two dollars per 
day, she would be overrun with labor. If 
Illinois were to prohibit non-resident 
aliens from buying and holding lands, 
aliens would buy lands elsewhere. If New 
York were to forbid marriages under the 
age of twenty-one years, people would go 



152 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

to other ' States to marry. Hence it will 
be seen, that it is absolutely necessary 
that Congress should be empowered to 
legislate on these questions, so that the 
laws may be uniform and binding on all. 
the States. 

Mr. Ely, in his admirable work on the 
" Labor Movement in America/' cleverly 
says : " There are four agencies through 
which we must work for the amelioration 
of the laboring class, as well as of all 
classes of society. These are the labor 
organization, the school, the state, and 
the church.-' Yes, these are all good, all 
necessary, all essential to the welfare and 
happiness of all classes of society, not 



REMEDY. 153 

only now, but at all times. But what we 
need most of all to-day, is the enactment 
of laws that will afford immediate relief 
to the masses. 

I am >not a millennialist, and if I was 
I would not wait for the millennium. I 
believe in doing to-day whatever can be 
done to ameliorate man's condition. We 
should not sit down and permit the evils 
we complain of to multiply. If we have 
discovered the cause of these evils, and 
we know the remedy, the remedy should 
be applied at once. If legislation is the 
remedy, then let us proceed to procure 

such legislation as may be necessary to 

11 



iS4 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

afford us the desired relief. Above all 
things let us shake off the lethargy of 
the past, and assume an active aggressive 
policy, one that will enable us to accom- 
plish something. 

There is one thing that labor should 
always bear in mind, and that is, that 
capital is invariably represented by men 
of courage, men of ability, and men of 
large brains. The men who represent 
capital are usually men of consummate 
tact, men of influence, men of stability. 
Their standing and character must be 
such as will command confidence and re- 
spect. Capital will not employ mediocri- 
ty, nor permit itself to be represented by 



REMEDY. 1 55 

a rambling, incoherent, blatherskite. In 
this particular it would be well for labor 
to emulate the example of capital. La- 
bor, as a rule, is not represented by men 
of sufficient calibre and native strength 
and ability, to cope with the men who 
represent its adversary. If labor is to 
succeed in its efforts, it must be repre- 
sented by men who are able to contend 
with its opponents in any emergency. 

If the wage-workers will only make up 
their minds to help themselves, some- 
thing practical can be accomplished. 
Every wage -worker who has a vote 
should use it to his advantage. The 
power of the ballot is irresistible. With 



i56 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

this weapon the wage-workers can obtain 
their rights. What we need most of all, 
is thorough!}^ competent, honest men, to 
represent the people in legislative, judi- 
cial, and executive offices. Every man 
who is nominated for a legislative, judi- 
cial, or executive office, should be made to 
publicly announce his views on the 
issues involved, and pledge himself to 
support them. If he refuses to do this, 
then the wage-workers should use every * 
means in their power to defeat him. If 
this were done, it would not be long be- 
fore the wage-workers would have a suf- 
ficient majority in both houses of the 
State Legislatures, and of Congress, to 



REMEDY. 157 

enact such laws as are necessary to re- 
lieve their wants. Labor as an organi- 
zation should refrain from nominating 
men for any office, except those I have 
mentioned, because the men who hold 
these offices are the only men who pos- 
sess the powder to promote the cause of 
labor. Their positions enable them to 
give labor something in return for its 
support, while the men who are elevated 
to city, county, and state offices, can help 
no one but themselves. Besides, to put 
men up for other offices, simpty affords 
an opportunhy for ambitious, office-seek- 
ing individuals, to gratify personal desire, 
and advance their personal interests, at 



158 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

the expense of organized labor. To pur- 
sue this course would divide the labor 
vote and defeat its object. As to whether 
or not it would be wise for organized la- 
bor to start an independent party, is a 
serious question, and one upon which the 
men who are best qualified to express an 
opinion do not agree. My own idea is 
this : In a political contest, in the cities 
at least, organized labor, as a unit, wields 
the balance of power, and for this reason 
labor ought to have no difficulty in get- 
ting one of the old political parties to 
nominate its candidates for Congress, and 
the Legislature. In return, labor could 
well afford to indorse the whole ticket of 



REMEDY. 159 

the party that nominated its congressional 
and legislative candidates. Should this 
plan fail, there would be no alternative, 
and labor could then put an independent 
ticket in the field. 

In politics, the wage-workers should ig- 
nore party and religion and nationality. 
They should see that good reliable men 
are nominated in every instance. And 
their chief aim should be to elect the 
men who represent them. They should 
not however, select all their candidates 
for office from the ranks of labor. This 
has been tried, and has uniformly result- 
ed in defeat. Labor in this respect must 
be reasonable. Suppose the farmers were 



160 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

to insist that none but farmers should be 
nominated for legislative offices ? Would 
it not be natural for the rest of the peo- 
ple to object? The wage-workers them- 
selves would reject such a proposition as 
unfair and ridiculous. There are plenty 
of good business men, and plenty of good 
lawyers, who are ready to espouse the 
cause of labor if an opportunity is afford- 
ed them. Some of these men should be 
chosen as labor's candidates. The fact 
that the}' do not belong to any labor or- 
ganization would redound to labor's bene- 
fit, and give greater force to anything 
they might say in labor's behalf. The 
candidates of labor for legislative offices, 



REMEDY. 161 

should not be taken exclusively from any 
particular class ;' they should be selected 
from* all classes, and should constitute a 
thoroughly representative body of men. 
Some of them should be men of cosmo- 
politan ideas and broad views. And all 
of them should be men of unquestion- 
able integrity, and brains and ability. 

There are thousands of ministers, 
doctors, lawyers, business men, and 
capitalists, in the United States, who 
sympathize with labor, and would wil- 
lingly advance its aims and objects. But 
to them the doors of labor organiza- 
tions are closed. It is hoped how- 
ever, that labor will devise some means 



162 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

to secure their co-operation. The influ- 
ence and support of such men would 
be a great help and a great power. ■ It is 
this class of men that labor needs to ad- 
vocate its cause among the people, out- 
side of the ranks of organized labor. If 
labor unions were to provide for the 
election of a limited number of honorary 
members, each labor union throughout 
the entire country could procure the ser- 
vices and influence of many of these 
men, by merely electing them as honor- 
ary members of the union. 

The object of confining labor's efforts 
to the nomination and election of men 
for legislative, judicial, and executive of- 



REMEDY. 163 

fices, is this : The men who are elected 
to legislative offices, make oiir laws ; 
those who are elected to judicial offices, 
construe them, and those who are elected 
to executive offices, enforce them. The 
President of the United States, and the 
Governors of the several States, exercise 
the vetoing power, and the State Legisla- 
tures choose our United States Senators. 
The only means by which the wage- 
workers can ever expect to obtain their 
rights and improve their condition, is or- 
ganization and legislation. If help does 
not come from these sources it will never 
come at all. All the substantial benefits 
gained by labor during the last twenty 



1 64 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

years, not only here, but in England, may 
be safely attributed to organization and 
legislation. The wage-workers' watchword 
should be organization and legislation. 
The wage-worker who anticipates assist- 
ance from any other source is laboring 
under a delusion. These are the foun- 
tains from which relief must flow. It 
is important, therefore, if the wage-work- 
ers desire to attain their ends, first, that 
they keep thoroughly organized, and sec- 
ond, that the}' concentrate all their 
strength and exhaust all their efforts to 
secure the nomination and election of 
honest, competent men, to legislative, ju- 
dicial, and executive offices. If this were 



REMEDY. 165 

done, the}' would ultimately achieve suc- 
cess, and their efforts would be crowned 
with victor}' ! 

If the Constitution of the United States 
were amended so as to empower Congress 
to enact the laws I have suggested as a 
remedy for existing evils, it is manifest 
even to the dullest comprehension, that 
the poverty that now prevails would rap- 
idly disappear and prosperity would soon 
reign. The adoption of these measures 
would furnish employment to the idle, 
shorten the. hours of labor, and secure 
fair wages for all who are industrious 
and willirig to work. It would give dig- 
nity and stability to American labor. It 



1 66 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

would do away with strikes and lock-outs, 
and bury forever the bitterness and ha- 
tred that now predominates between capi- 
tal and labor. It would encourage indus- 
try and frugality, give new life and hope 
to the oppressed, and afford relief to the 
distressed. It would brighten the homes 
of the unfortunate , cheer and comfort the 
need}^ carry joy to the hearts of des- 
pondent mothers, and kiss the tears of 
hunger from the eyes of children who 
oxy for bread. 

This is a beautiful world. Banish 
avarice from it, and misery and want 
would soon disappear. Avidity generates 
discontent. Magnanimity produces felic- 



REMEDY. 167 

ity. Humanity alone is the remedy for 
all the evils that environ us. Our re- 
sources are superabundant. There is 
more than enough to clothe and feed us 
all. Why then should any one suffer for 
food to eat or raiment to wear? Is it 
not because many of us are too selfish ? 
Is it not because many of us unjustly 
retain too large a portion of the products 
of labor ? Is it not because many of us 
are insensible to the wants and neces- 
sities of the masses ? We are not going 
to live here always, and when we die 
we can take nothing with us. While 
we are here we should live and 
let live. Let us do unto others 



i6S THE WAGE- WORKER'S 

as we would have others do unto us. 
Let us give every man an opportutity to 
live decently and comfortably. Let us 
gladden the hearts of those who are 
struggling for happiness. The time has 
come when we can afford to be more just 
and generous. Why make slaves of the 
multitude, that the few may revel in lux- 
ury ? Let us do something to alleviate 
the condition of the wage-workers. Let 
us do something to diminish the poverty 
and distress that surrounds us. Let us 
do something to lift our fellow-men above 
the dismal plane of hunger and want. 
Labor has cleared our forests, developed 
our country, created our national wealth, 



REMEDY. 169 

built our princely stores and palatial 
homes, surrounded us with all the com- 
forts and conveniences of life, and caused 
the fruits of the earth to blossom like 
the rose. Surely, labor is worthy of some 
consideration. The wage-workers are our 
brothers ; they belong to the same great 
human family ; they are made of flesh 
and blood like ourselves ; they have simi- 
lar minds and hearts ; they possess the 
same appetites and the same passions ; 
they feel an injury as keenly as we do; 
they live under the same starry heavens 
and worship the same God, and they are 

equally as quick to resent a wrong or 
12 



170 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

appreciate a kindness. In our dealings 
with the wage-workers let us be manly 
and honest and humane. This will give 
us their respect and confidence, and bring 
peace and prosperity to all. And when 
the good work is done, those whom we 
love will evince their gratitude in expres- 
sions of joy, and God will bless us for 
all eternity. 



REMEDY, 171 

CHAPTER IV. 

THERE IS NO COMPLETE REMEDY FOR 
POVERTY. 

' ' Poverty is the only burden which is not 
lightened by being shared with others." 

The condition of the masses in onr 
large cities to-day is something appalling. 
Poverty and distress meet onr vision on 
every side. The appeals of the poor, the 
mnrmnring of. the idle, and the cries of 
the afflicted, are heard on every hand, 
while grim despair, like a storm cloud, 
hovers o'er the squalid homes of the 
hungry and oppressed. Just how all this 
suffering and misery is to be relieved, no 



1 72 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

one seems to know, and no one has sug- 
gested a remedy that affords us a glim- 
mer of hope that relief will ever come. 
Several schools of political and social re- 
formers have arisen, and each of these 
schools has proposed a remedy for pov- 
erty, which it claims is the only true 
one. All of these remedies contain some 
good ideas, but for some reason or other 
they are all considered objectionable or 
impracticable, and have so far borne no 
fruit. All the remedies thus far proffered 
appear to be inadequate and powerless. 
In fact, there seems to be no remedy 
equal to the emergency. Henry George 
however, informs us in his work entitled 



REMEDY. 173 

" Progress and Poverty," that lie has not 
only discovered the cause, but the remedy 
for poverty. And as no man living has 
thought more earnestly on the question 
than Mr. George, let us pause for a mo- 
ment and briefly examine his* views. 

" Progress and Poverty " is certainly a 
very remarkable book. It is unquestion- 
ably the most original, aggressive, and 
radical contribution to economic literature 
that has appeared since the publication of 
" The Wealth of Nations." Its thought 
is warm and animated, its arguments 
clear and comprehensive, and its conclu- 
sions logical and powerful. It is the 
work of an enthusiast endowed with 



174 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

brains and genius. As a literary produc- 
tion it is lofty and grand. Considered as 
an intellectual effort, it is veritably a 

masterpiece of logic and reason. The 
extensive acquaintance of the author with 
literature, science, arts, and even fiction 
and fable, is something unusual. Indeed, 
it would be impossible for any one to read 
this most extraordinary work without ap- 
preciating and admiring the eloquence, 
the wonderful power of illustration, the 
intense earnestness, the deep thought, and 
the intrepid courage of the author. And 
nowhere does Mr. George allow his zeal 
in the cause which he espouses to carry 
him to those extremes which are born 



REMEDY. 175 

of passion and prejudice, and which are 
only calculated to weaken the effect of 
the most meritorious works. In all that 
he has to say in the examination and in- 
terpretation of the questions involved in 
his subject, he is moderate and dispas- 
sionate, but emphatic and logical to the 
end. And yet, notwithstanding all this, 
the author advocates doctrines which are 
detrimental to the best interests of so- 
ciety and subversive of good government. 
If " Progress and Poverty " w r ere simple 
enough to be read and understood by the 
masses, its influence would have a ten- 
dency to disturb the equilibrium of the 
social fabric, and perhaps incite rebellion 



176 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

against the individual proprietorship of 
land. But the work is altogether too in- 
tricate ever to be read or comprehended 
by the great masses of the people. It is 
a book that will be perused almost exclu- 
sively by men of thought and culture, 
who are thoroughly competent to estimate 
its value, and who will naturally reject 
every principle which it inculcates that is 
unsound and vicious. 

Mr. George exhibits a perfect familiar- 
ity with the current views of the ablest 
writers on political economy and the 
principles of the science upon which 
they all agree, as well as the ques- 
tions upon which there is a wide 



REMEDY. . 177 

difference of opinion, but be seems to 
care but very little for tbeir conclusions. 
Many of tbe economic tbeories of Adam 
Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, Buckle, John 
Stuart Mill, and others, are analyzed and 
refuted as easily as a fog is dispelled by 
the warm rays of the morning sun. And 
when this has been satisfactorily accom- 
plished, Mr. George starts out on a course 
of reasoning of his own, and arrives at 
results which are at once interesting and 
instructive, and which are propounded 
with a force and eloquence which not 
only persuade and enrapture the reader, 
but animate him with a feeling of pro- 
found admiration for the consummate 



178 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

skill, the subtle ingenuity, and the sub- 
lime logic of the author. 

Mr. George shows that the natural 
order of the three great factors of produc- 
tion is land, labor, and capital, and avers 
that instead of starting from capital, as 
our initial point, we should start from 
land. He demolishes the popular theory 
adhered to by so many of the most dis- 
tinguished writers on political economy, 
that wages are drawn from capital, and 
demonstrates, beyond all controversy, that 
labor simply draws a part of what it pro- 
duces, leaving the balance to capital, and 
clearly indicates that capital is neither 
disturbed nor drawn from by wages at all. 



REMEDY. 179 

There is one exception to this rnle 
however, which Mr. George seems to 
have overlooked, and that is, in all cases 
where capital is furnished to pay labor, 
before labor is productive, and capital is 
lost, then it is obvious that labor draws 
from capital. With this exception, he 
manifests beyond doubt, that labor always 
adds to capital by its exertion, before it 
takes from capital in its wages. He ex- 
plodes the idea that wages depend upon 
the ratio between the amount of labor 
seeking employment, and the amount of 
capital devoted to its employment, and 
shows that it is obviously untrue, that 
capital is relatively abundant where 



180 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

wages are high, and relatively scarce where 
wages are low. He refutes the theory of 
Ricardo r and Mai thus, that population 
may outrun subsistence, and that the 
wages of labor may be measured by the 
price of commodities. He illustrates the 
fact, that want and squalor appear where 
productive power is greatest, and the pro- 
duction of wealth is the largest. He 
does not believe in the Malthusean the- 
ory, that the increase of population tends 
to reduce wages, and produce poverty. 
He assigns the increase of rent as the 
chief cause of low wages, and argues that 
the cause of poverty and famine in Ire- 
land, India, and China, is not due to over- 



REMEDY. 181 

population, but to misrule, the imposition 
of rack-rents, and the tyrannical oppres- 
sion of the people into a condition of 
helpless and hopeless degradation. He 
believes that cooperation will not remedy 
the grievances of the working classes, 
and that if cooperation were universal it 
could neither raise wages, nor relieve pov- 
erty. He argues that trades-unions and 
labor combinations are not only inefficient, 
but destructive of freedom and wealth, 
and inevitably tyrannical, and that labor- 
saving machinery or improvements have 
a tendency to increase rent, without in- 
creasing wages, and have failed every- 
where to benefit the laboring classes. 



1 82 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

And thus he ranges with majestic 
stride through the whole field of political 
economy, disputing, step by step, many 
of its best established principles, over- 
leaping the boundary lines of every fixed 
rule, and upsetting well adjusted general- 
izations, formulas, and theories, by a line 
of argument that is not only irresistible, 
but irrefutably brilliant. And upon the 
ruins of these antiquated theories of po- 
litical economy, he builds up a new and 
marvelous system, which is destined to 
make him famous in the annals of eco- 
nomic literature. 

And it makes no difference whether we 
resort to the inductive or deductive methods 



REMEDY. ' 183 

of reasoning. The same conclusions are 
reached by either method. But I do 
not acquiesce in Mr. George's views upon 
all the questions which he discusses. His 
main object is to show, that material pro- 
gress not • only fails to relieve poverty, 
but that it actually produces it, and that 
there is but one remedy that will elimi- 
nate this torturing evil from our midst. 
I intend to demonstrate that he is not 
only wrong in this theory, but that the 
reverse is the case ; that material progress 
does not produce poverty, but on the con- 
trary, it actually diminishes it, and that 
the remedy which he suggests to eradi- 
cate poverty, is in fact, no remedy at all. 



1 84 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

It is undoubtedly true, that poverty and 
material wealth co-exist, but this does not 
prove that the former is the product of 
the latter. Because if this be admitted, it 
logically follows, that poverty must exist 
everywhere in exact proportion to the ac- 
cumulation of material wealth, and this is 
not true, and never has been. Poverty is 
nowhere to be found in precise propor- 
tion to the existence of material wealth. 
And it is an indisputable fact, that pov- 
erty existed in greater abundance before 
the inception of material progress, than 
it does to-day. Poverty is of ancient ori- 
gin. It was born of antiquity, and still 
lives. Material progress is the child of 



REMEDY. 185 

modern civilization. The former flourish- 
ed for centuries before the latter was 
born. Primitive man came into the world 
poverty-stricken and helpless. For ages 
poverty was universal, now it is con- 
fined to a minority of the people in all 
civilized countries. The advance of civil- 
ization and material progress has greatly 
ameliorated man's condition. They have 
lightened his burdens and softened the 
enormity of his sufferings. For centuries, 
man lived in caves, bark shanties, and 
mud huts. His original condition was 
that of the half-starved omnivagant tatter- 
demalion. Material progress has provided 

13 



1 86 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

him with superior shelter, clothed his 
nakedness, satisfied his hunger, and sur- 
rounded him with every convenience, com- 
fort, luxury, and enjoyment. And while 
poverty is more keenly felt perhaps, in 
our day, by those who are hampered with 
it, than it was in former times, this is 
imputable to the fact, that formerly, all 
men were poor and thought less of their 
poverty and misery, because all suffered 
alike, while to-day, the contrast between 
the luxurious status of the rich on the 
one hand, and the poverty of the poor 
on the other, enable the latter to realize 
more bitterly their deplorable condition. 
But when we consider, that originally all 



REMEDY. 187 

men were poor, and that material progress 
has gradually lifted a large portion of 
mankind from an impoverished state to 
one of opulence and ease, it seems to me 
that it is idle to say, that material pro- 
gress has failed to relieve poverty, or that 
it produces it, when all the facts tend to 
show, beyond dispute, that poverty has 
not only been relieved, but diminished 
by its growth. 

If there never had been any progress 
in material wealth, poverty would have 
prevailed, and all mankind would have 
been doomed to a life of misery and in- 
sufferable want. If man had invented any- 
thing there would not have been material 



1 88 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

wealth enough in existence to have put 
it into use. Man would have always re- 
mained a ragamuffin and lived in a state 
of semi-barbarism for the need of all of 
those great inventions and discoveries 
which material progress has cherished 
and developed, and which have done so 
much to promote the welfare of man and 
advance civilization. There would have 
been no steamboats, no railroads, no teleg- 
raphy, no telephone, no machinery, no 
agricultural implements, no public im- 
provements, and the arts and sciences 
would have been comparatively unknown. 
In short, the world would have been at 
a standstill, man would have made but 



REMEDY. 189 

little if any progress, and would always 
have lived like a pauper and a semi- 
savage. The increase of material wealth 
has done far more than any other one 
thing to elevate man to his present high 
estate, and to develop, educate, and civil- 
ize him. 

Poverty has always existed, and still 
exists, except as it has been diminished 
by the progress of civilization and the 
growth of material wealth. It exists in 
old countries, and it exists in new coun- 
tries. It exists in rich countries and in 
poor countries. It exists in densely set- 
tled countries and in sparsely settled 
countries. And the United States present, 



1 9 o THE WAGE-WORKERS 

perhaps , the best evidence in the world 
to show that it is not produced by mate- 
rial progress, but by other and more 
subtle causes. Poverty exists in the Uni- 
ted States, a country where wages are 
comparatively high, where many of the 
poor are becoming rich, and where land 
is superabundant. 

The fact is, material progress produces 
the opposite effect claimed by Mr. George. 
Material progress does not produce pov- 
erty ; on the contrary, it actually dimin- 
ishes it. As man accumulates material 
wealth, his poverty ceases. And the 
great problem to be solved by the philan- 
thropist, the philosopher, and the states- 



REMEDY. 191 

man, is, why it is, that material progress 
diminishes poverty np to a certain point 
and then ceases ? That is to say, mate- 
rial progress improves the condition of 
all the people up to a certain point, and 
then, the increase of material wealth falls 
into the hands of a few ! 

In the United States, poverty exists 
principally in the large cities, and is 
mainly attributable to enforced idleness, 
low wages, high rents, mid extortionate 
rates of interest, the minor causes being 
indolence, extravagance, intemperance, and 
vice. This will be obvious to even the 
most casual observer. Nearly ever}' case 
of poverty can be traced either directly or 



192 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

indirectly to one or more of these causes. 
It is trne that modern civilization and 
material progress have transmuted the va- 
rious forms of poverty just as they have 
changed our manners and habits, but 
they have neither produced nor increased 
poverty, which in all human probability 
will continue to exist, to some extent at 
least, to the end. Material progress has 
been to man what the sun is to vegeta- 
tion, it has warmed, nurtured, and sus- 
tained him. To stay its advance would 
be like taking the light from a delicate 
flower and shrouding it in darkness. 

That the condition of the laboring 
classes in England has been greatly 



REMEDY. 193 

improved during the last fifty years, not- 
withstanding the immense growth of ma- 
terial wealth during that period, is evi- 
denced by Mr. Giffen in his work enti- 
tled " The Progress of the Working 
Classes in the Last Half Century." Mr. 
Gififen's figures tend to show, that during 
that time the individual incomes of the 
working classes have largely increased ; 
that the prices of the main articles of 
their consumption have declined ; that the 
rate of mortality has decreased ; that the 
consumption of articles in general use 
has increased ; that there has been a gen- 
eral improvement in education, a dimi- 
nution of crime and pauperism, a vast 



1 94 THE . 1^4 GE- WORKER'S 

increase in the number of depositors in 
savings banks , and many other evidences 
of their general well-being. And in an 
excellent article written by Prof. Laugh- 
lin, and published in the North American 
Review for May, 1884, it i s shown that 
labor-saving appliances, machinery, and 
increased production, have not only not 
been the cause of the wretchedness, the 
misery, and the distress, which exists 
among the working classes, but that they 
have actually been the means of employ- 
ing more labor, increasing wages, and 
ameliorating the laboring man's condition. 
I am well aware of the fact, that some 
of the statements made by Mr. Giffen, 



REMEDY. 195 

relative to the improved condition of the 
working classes in England during the 
last fifty years, have been doubted, mere- 
ly because they do not harmonize in all 
respects, with the views expressed by Mr. 
Huxley in his " Social Diseases and 
Worse Remedies," and the observations 
of Mr. Verinder, published in the London 
Church Reformer. While Mr. Sullivan in 
his " Political Aspects of the Labor Prob- 
lem," questions the accuracy of some of 
Mr. Giffen's figures. But notwithstand- 
ing these differences of opinion, Mr. Gif- 
fen's statements have never been refuted. 
Besides, it is an indisputable fact, that 
the wage-workers in England, and Amer- 



1 96 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

ica, are not only paid higher wages, but 
their condition generally, is much better 
than the condition of the wage-workers 
anywhere else, and yet, the increase of 
material wealth in these countries during 
the last quarter of a century, has been 
greater than in any other two countries 
in the world. 

The saying that the " rich are becom- 
ing richer and the poor poorer," is not 
true. If it were — if the poor became 
poorer in proportion as the rich became 
richer — one-third of the human race 
would soon be in the poorhouse. The 
fact is, some rich men are becoming rich- 
er, while some are becoming poor. On 



REMEDY. 197 

the other hand, some poor men are be- 
coming rich, while others are either mak- 
ing no progress at all, or they are grad- 
ually becoming poorer. On the whole, 
the number of rich people are increasing, 
but as they increase from the ranks of 
the poor, it logically follows that the 
number of the poor are constantly be- 
coming less. The men who live in opu- 
lence and ease to-day, are liable to be 
bankrupt and poverty-stricken to-morrow. 
No man can govern the vicissitudes, of 
fortune, any more than he can control the 
wind or stay the storm. And all things 
considered, it would seem as if a large 
portion of mankind were doomed to a life 



198 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

of toil and suffering, owing to their want 
of economy and the frailty of their na- 
tures. The unequal distribution of the 
material wealth of the world has undoubt- 
edly caused many a bitter thought, many 
a heartache, many a pang of sorrow, suf- 
fering and despair. But for this there is 
but one remedy, and that every man pos- 
sesses. Men who are industrious, eco- 
nomical, and temperate, accumulate prop- 
erty. Those who are not, generally re- 
main poor. And herein lies the w T hole 
secret. The sooner this fact is realized 
and acted upon the better. If a more 
equitable distribution of the world's wealth 
could be permanently secured by the 



REMEDY. 199 

adoption of constitutional laws, statutory 
provisions, or national treaties, the remedy 
would be very simple, and man could soon 
be made comfortable ; but as this is not 
only impracticable, but impossible, man 
must depend upon bis own resources and 
help himself. This is his only remed}^. 

No doubt, an advance in wages, an 
amendment to our National Constitution 
fixing eight hours as a legal day's work, 
a reduction in rents and the present rates 
of interest, would have a tendency to re- 
duce poverty in the United States to a 
minimum. Other remedies for the evil, 
would be a radical change in morals and 
the present mode of living, increased 



2oo THE WAGE-WORKERS 

intelligence, and a diminution of in- 
dolence, extravagance, intemperance and 
vice, among the laboring classes. Higher 
wages would provide the working classes 
with, the means to secure homes and 
enjoy many of the conveniences of life 
which are now beyond their reach; a re- 
duction in the hours of labor would fur- 
nish employment to any who are idle, 
and afford the laboring classes ample time 
for moral and intellectual improvement. 
This of course, would reduce the profits 
of capital, but it would cause a more 
equitable distribution of the products of 
labor, and would prevent capitalists from 
accumulating immense fortunes in a few 



REMEDY. 201 

years by wrongfully depriving labor of its 
natural rights and just rewards. 

But Mr. George not only adheres to 
the theory that material progress pro- 
duces poverty, but he gives us a remedy 
for the evil : 

i. "We must make land common 
property." 

2. " Abolish all taxation save that 
upon land values." 

Mr. George proposes to take the land 
from its present owners without compen- 
sation, the people to resume the owner- 
ship of the land as common property, al- 
lowing the land-owners to simplj^ retain 

14 



2 02 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

their improvements. Mr. George's views 
upon this question are far more radical 
than are those of Amos, Moody, Spencer, 
and others, who believe that the owners 
of land should receive full indemnity for 
it. Mr. George claims that in order " to 
extirpate poverty, to make wages what 
justice commands they should be, to sub- 
stitute equality for inequality, plenty for 
want, justice for injustice, and social 
strength for social weakness," and to 
remedy all the evils which naturally flow 
from poverty, that individual ownership 
in land must be speedily abolished. 

Precisely how all this would be ac- 
complished if Mr. George's remedy was 



REMEDY. 203 

adopted, he does not indicate, and nobody 
will ever be able to discover by reading 
bis book. The man who can provide a 
practical, complete, and permanent remedy 
for poverty, will always be respected and 
honored as one of the greatest benefac- 
tors of the hnman race. We might say 
of snch a remedy, " 'tis a consummation 
devoutly to be wished," but one which is 
no more likely to be realized than were 
the fantastic imaginings of Don Quixote, 
or the fanciful dreams of Sir Walter Ral- 
eigh, in his fruitless efforts to discover 
the fabulous El Dorado. When the 
statesman, and the philosopher, shall 
have exhausted their wisdom in the ad- 



2o 4 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

justment of the labor problem; when the 
theories of Amos are accepted, and em- 
pirical politics are reduced to a science ; 
when men shall have become perfect, and 
the millennium is at hand ; then indeed, 
may we hope to see poverty and all its 
insufferable pangs suppressed, and the 
wolf driven from the poor man's door. 
But there is just about as much proba- 
bility of these things coming to pass, as 
there is in the world being destroyed by 
lightning when the sky is cloudless and 
the sun stands in the meridian. 

There are several fatal objections to this 
remedy : 

i. It is unconstitutional. 



REMEDY. 205 

2. It is impracticable. 

3. It is revolutionary. 

The remedy is unconstitutional , for the 
reason that the Constitution of the United 
States provides, that private property shall 
not be taken for public use without just 
compensation, and that no person shall 
be deprived of his property without due 
process of law. 

It is impracticable, and revolutionaiy, 
for the reason that the property owners 
would never submit to any such outrage, 
unless they were compelled to do so by 
military force. And if military force were 
resorted to, they would defend their vested 
rights to the last man. This would only 



so6 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

be natural. The tiniest worm that crawls 
will turn if stepped upon. Nothing short 
of a successful revolution could possibly 
enforce such an odious measure, and a 
revolution begun for the perpetration of 
such a gigantic piece of robbery, would 
inevitably end in ignominious defeat. A 
revolution in support of such a measure, 
might under certain circumstances, meet 
with success in a country like Great Brit- 
ain, where the land is all owned by a few 
persons, but in the United States, where 
the land owners and those who entertain 
the same views upon the question are so 
numerous, any attempt to enforce it would 

prove a ridiculous failure. Besides, no 



REMEDY. 207 

remedy that limits personal liberty, that 
retards material progress, that obstructs 
superior financial ability and requires ret- 
rogression, can hope to escape oblivion. 
The whole tendency of the age is to ad- 
vance. Never before has the human mind 
been more active or perspicacious, and no 
remedy that is so utterly barren of the 
primordial elements of progress as the one 
proposed by Mr. George, however ably 
advocated, will ever stand the test to 
which it must submit before it is adopted, 
and therefore must signally fail. It is 
impossible to ignore this fact. It is as 
apparent as sunshine, and as irresistible 



2o8 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

as the tide of the ocean, with its variable 
currents and boisterous waves. 

But, even if we waive the constitutional 
objection to Mr. George's remedy, and ad- 
mit for the sake of argument, that it is 
practical and non-revolutionary, if carried 
into effect it would have' a tendency to 
produce the very evil which Mr. George 
aims to eradicate. In the United States, 
his remedy, instead of diminishing pov- 
erty, would actually produce it. It would 
take away from millions of honest, indus- 
trious, and economical farmers, mechanics, 
and laborers, their farms and homesteads, 
and would give them nothing in return — 
farms and homesteads that represent the 



REMEDY. 209 

savings of nearly a lifetime. It would 
not only thereby reduce thein to poverty, 
but it would compel them to pay rent in 
the bargain ; while on the other hand, it 
would in no way put a dollar in the poor 
man's pocket, neither would it increase 
his wages, nor relieve the poverty which 
now prevails. To carry out this remedy 
would simply be to add poverty to pov- 
erty, to stay the growth and accumula- 
tion of wealth in real property, to destroy 
every incentive among men to be indus- 
trious and economical, to rob man of his 
energy and ambition, to ignore an indi- 
vidualism and inequality which Nature 
herself inviolably sanctions, to encourage 



210 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

idleness and vagrancy, to increase intem- 
perance and vice, and to corrupt good 
morals and demoralize society generally. 

So much for the reduction of land to 
common property. Let us now ascertain 
what the result would be if all taxation 
were abolished except that upon land 
values. 

If we make land common property and 
abolish all taxation save that upon land 
values, if the taxes are not paid how are 
they to be collected? They could not be 
enforced against the land, for the land 
would in such case belong to the State, 
and not to the taxpayer. So that if the 
taxpayer did not own personal property 



REMEDY. 211 

enough to make him responsible, the tax 
could not be collected. The only remedy 
for this evil would be to require the occu- 
pant of the land to pay his taxes in ad- 
vance. But suppose he could not do so, 
then what ? This rule would favor the rich 
and oppress the poor. The rich would 
have the means to pay the tax, but where 
would the teeming millions of working- 
men get the money to pay a year's tax 
(rent) in advance ? And what would be- 
come of all the unoccupied lands which 
now pay taxes ? Under the proposed sys- 
tem they would produce no revenue, for 
they could not be taxed if not occupied. 
This of course, would necessitate the im- 



2i2 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

position of a heavier tax upon the lands 
occupied ! So that under this system the 
Government would be supported solely by 
the occupiers of the land. And as the 
great majority of the occupiers of the 
public domain would be poor people, this 
would virtually impose the maintenance 
of the Government upon the poor. If 
this system were adopted, the millionaires 
of personal property would be entitled to 
the same protection under the law as the 
poor taxpayer, without having to pay a 
tax upon their property. The Govern- 
ment is now supported principally by 
the rich. Under this system, Mr. George 
would reverse the rule, and give us a 



REMEDY. 213 

Government supported by the poor, for 
the benefit and protection of the rich, and 
this he would do in the name of justice, 
to remedy the evil of poverty and elimi- 
nate it from our midst. 

While I am opposed to any interference 
with the proprietary rights of the present 
owners of land, I believe that the law 
should prohibit all persons from purchas- 
ing and holding more land than is act- 
ually necessary for homestead and business 
purposes. This would prevent the pur- 
chase of land for speculative purposes. 

Under existing conditions, I believe that 
the adoption of a tax law T , similar to that 
recently enacted by the Parliament of 



2i 4 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

New Zealand, would cause a sudden de- 
cline in the value of land, and a substan- 
tial reduction of rents. A tax law that 
would exempt from taxation all improve- 
ments on land to the amount of five 
thousand dollars^ impose a graduated tax 
on all lands — including improvements — of 
the value of twenty thousand dollars and 
upwards, and levy an additional tax on 
absentee landlords, would not only place 
the burden of taxation on the rich, but it 
would prove a great boon to the masses 
of the people. 

Of course, there is nothing novel in 
the remedy suggested by Mr. George. It 
is purely socialistic in principle and char- 



REMEDY. 2i 5 

acter, and is based upon the doctrines of 
Proudhon, Fourier, Lasalle, Owen, and 
other Socialists. It was sanctioned by 
the Paris Commune, and ratified still 
later by the valiant Moody. The appear- 
ance however, of " Progress and Poverty " 
and " Land and Labor " marks an epoch 
in the growth of the science of politi- 
cal economy, and the progress of radi- 
cal thought as developed by Socialism. 
There seems however, to be a serious 
lack of consistency between the Socialists 
here and abroad, and the situation now 
presents to our vision, the highly in- 
teresting spectacle of Socialism advocat- 
ing the adoption of constitutional rights, 



2r6 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

through the revolutionary party in Rus- 
sia, and the destruction of constitutional 
rights, b}^ George, Mood}-, and others, in 
the United States. 

The State Socialists advocate the doc- 
trines of Lasalle, Hyndman, and Burns. 
They would abolish our present system 
of government and establish a Coopera- 
tive Commonwealth. They would make 
all the products of labor common prop- 
erty, and have all the business affairs of 
the country, both industrial and commer- 
cial, carried on by the Government. The 
Socialistic Labor Party entertains the 
same idea. The Communists go still 
further, but fortunately, they are divided 



REMEDY. 217 

among themselves. The compulsory Com- 
munists believe in the principle of au- 
thority and a government. The anarchis- 
tic Communists believe in a free society, 
but would have no government at all. 
x\ll Communists however, believe that all 
property should be held in common by 
the people. The Anarchist believes in 
the absolute sovereignty of the individual, 
but just how his dreams are to be real- 
ized we are not informed. The Anar- 
chists have no program. They disagree 
on almost every point with the Single 
Taxers, the State Socialists, and the Com- 
munists, especially on the land question. 

15 



2iS THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

Then we have the Republican and Demo- 
cratic parties, and half a dozen other po- 
litical organizations, all nobly struggling 
to solve the vexatious problem. And still 
the world moves on without a practical 
remedy for poverty. The various reme- 
dies tendered by these political and social 
reformers are warmly and tenaciously sup- 
ported by a brilliant array of writers and 
speakers and thinkers. And while there 
is some sense in all of the remedies pro- 
posed, there is also a good deal of non- 
sense, and in the clash of ideas between 
George and Mallock and Marx and La- 
salle and Gronlund and Bellamy and 
Tolstoi and McKay and Warren and 



REMEDY. 219 

Proudhon, and the impracticability of a 
variety of remedies, there is to be found 
neither consolation nor hope for suffering 
humanity. And with all these remedies 
on our hands, there is nothing but talk, 
nothing but discussion, nothing but wind 
music to amuse and pacify the masses ; 
while idleness and poverty and oppression 
sweep over the land like a devastating 
storm, leaving their victims to perish by 
the wayside, for the want of the necessa- 
ries of life. 

And all the remedies that have been 
offered for poverty, are not only revolu- 
tionary in character, but altogether too 
complicated and cumbersome to be practi- 



2 2o THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

cable. In ni}' judgment the remedy for 
poverty does not require revolutionary 
measures at all. There is no necessity 
for a change in the form of our govern- 
ment. The government is all right, it is 
the men who are running it who are 
wrong. These we must change. If our 
Constitution and laws are defective the}' 
can be amended to meet the emergency. 
If the different schools of social and po- 
litical reformers have presented any good 
ideas, they can easily be formulated into 
laws and engrafted upon our present sys- 
tem. The theories and nonsense of these 
reformers we do not want. Their good 



REMEDY. 221 

ideas we can and should adopt by suit- 
able legislation. 

It seems to me that the time has ar- 
rived when a practical move in the mat- 
ter should be made. If legislation is the 
true remedy for poverty, we should set 
ourselves to work and see that such laws 
are enacted as will afford us the relief 
desired. The thing of all things is to do 
something. If we are ever going to ac- 
complish anything let us be about it. 
Why put off until to-morrow what can be 
done to-day ? When capital wants a law 
enacted for its protection, or to further 
its interests, it goes direct to our law- 
makers and requests that such a law be 



222 THE WAGE-WORKERS 

passed, and it is passed. Why cannot 
labor do likewise? If the wage-workers 
ever expect to improve their condition, 
they must make known their wants and 
make an effort to secure them. I have 
pointed out the remedy for the present 
needs of labor. All that remains to be 
done is for the wage-workers to say to 
our law-makers, these things we want and 
must have, and they will obtain them. If 
any member of Congress, or any member 
of the State Legislature, neglects or re- 
fuses to do his duty, relegate him to pri- 
vate life, and put another man in his 
place. 

It is all well enough for these reform- 



REMEDY. 22 3 

ers to indulge in nice subtle discussions 
as to the correctness or incorrectness of 
the Malthusian theory ; to inform us 
of the cause of high rents ; to expatiate 
upon the high rates of interest^ to lay 
down the law of wages ; to explain the 
relations between capital and labor ; to ex- 
pound the law of supply and demand ; to 
denounce the idea of cooperation ; to indi- 
cate the cause and progress of poverty ; 
to deplore the tendency to concentrate the 
ownership of land ; to elucidate the evils 
and advantages of labor-saving inven- 
tions ; to condemn monopolies and trusts ; 
to illustrate the effect of taxation on pro- 
duction ; to talk artfully and learnedly 



224 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

about the different theories of a score or 
more of distinguished writers upon a mul- 
tiplicity of economic topics ; to discuss the 
equation of values ; to argue that land 
should be made common propeily ; to di- 
late on the increase of material wealth ; 
to lament over the inequitable distribu- 
tion of property ; to picture the great pro- 
ductive power of nature ; to dwell sym- 
pathetica^ upon the injustice of modern 
civilization ; to propose a reniedj^ for pov- 
erty that is too refined and intricate for 
the masses to understand, and to describe 
in the most graphic and glowing terms 
the enchanting beauties of an ideal, but 
incomprehensible commonwealth ; but all 



REMEDY. 225 

of these rose-tinted discussions, though 
instructive and highly interesting, will 
not furnish work to the idle nor fill 
the mouths of hungry men. They will 
not provide men with food to eat, cloth- 
ing to wear, nor a roof to cover their 
heads. What we need is something 
more substantial and practical ; something 
to relieve labor's present necessities ; some- 
thing that will end labor's grievances ; 
something that will supply labor's wants ; 
something that will bring joy and comfort 
to the hearts of those who toil to earn 
their daily bread. 

The true remedy for poverty, so far as 
there is any remedy at all, is steady zvork, 



226 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

shorter hours, and fair wages. All the 
influence that labor possesses, and every 
exertion that labor has the ability to 
make, should be concentrated and ex- 
hausted, in one mighty effort to obtain 
these three things. Supply the wage- 
worker with these, and his troubles will 
soon fade away. 

Man is doomed to a life of toil. " In 
the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat 
thy bread." This is the eternal law. No 
man can live unless he works. Nothing 
can be achieved without labor. All the 
schemes devised by man to the contrary 
have failed. The earth will not bring 



REMEDY. 227 

forth her fruits without it. And all that 
we possess comes from the soil. " If a 
man will not work, neither shall he eat." 
And the saddest thing of all is, no mat- 
ter how hard we work, no matter what we 
do, there will always be more or less pov- 
erty. The paralytic, the superannuated, 
the sick, the lame, the blind, the insane, 
the improvident, and the unfortunate poor, 
we will always have with us. Man may, 
by industry, by economy, by the enactment 
of beneficial laws, and in various other 
ways, ameliorate man's condition, and di- 
minish poverty to a point where there 
will be but very little suffering and want, 



228 THE WAGE-WORKER'S 

but that is all that man can ever expect 
to accomplish. All this talk about a 
complete remedy for poverty is arrant 
nonsense. There never has been, there 
is not now, and there never will be, a 
complete remedy for poverty. The man 
who believes in snch a remedy is a 
dreamer. The man who hopes for snch 
a remedy will never live to realize his 
hopes. All the remedies for poverty that 
man has ever conceived, are either im- 
practicable or inadeqnate. Poverty is here 
to stay. It may be possible to bail ont 
the ocean, or to snatch the snn from the 
sky, but to eradicate poverty from onr 



REMEDY. 229 

midst is impossible. Poverty may be re 
duced to a minimum, it may be relieved, 
but it can never be extirpated. Man and 
poverty are twin brothers. They were 
born in the same womb, rocked in the 
same cradle, and will float down the 
stream of life to a common grave. Here, 
and here only, all poverty will end. 

11 Death ends our woes, 
And the kind grave shuts up the mournful scene." 

These views may be discouraging — 
they may seem pessimistic — but for this 
I am not responsible. They are the hon- 
est convictions of one who has long and 
earnestly searched for the truth, who has 



230 WA GE- WORKERS REM ED Y. 

carefully studied the subject in all its 
bearings, and given due thought and con- 
sideration to all the questions involved, 
and are based upon conclusions and facts 
that are supported and affirmed by the 
history of man in all ages. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



027 292 800 9 




